Still Fighting
by AHeartForStories
Summary: IN THE PROCESS OF BEING REWRITTEN.
1. Prologue

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!_

 _So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one._

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. :)_

 _Also, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Prologue**

 _-Year 2033, summer-_

Rain poured down from the sky and lightning lit up the sky as thunder boomed high above. It was the middle of the night, pitch black all around with the lack of street lights. And if that wasn't dangerous enough, the creatures who could be lurking in that darkness could surely form a threat.

It was the reason why the only two figures brave enough to traverse this darkness were in a hurry to get where it was safe. Both of them were teens, both the age of eighteen, a male and a female. One was a mobian hedgehog while the other was a mobian bat.

People would call them crazy for braving the outside in the middle of the night, but the two found they had little choice. The young woman was heavy with child, the two had been a little too careless on their journey while showing their affection for eachother and this is what happened.

The bat was already nine months far and in the last hour the light cramps she had been feeling had turned into full on contractions, wreaking havoc on her body and making it difficult for her to travel.

The only reason why they hadn't stopped yet was the high wall not far up ahead. It might look intimidating in the dark, but the spotlights up on top meant that there was civilisation behind it. Civilisation meant safety and food, the best perks of living within a Quarantine Zone, perks that they wanted with a baby soon to come.

"It's not far now, Rouge, just a few more blocks." The hedgehog reassured the bat as he helped the young pregnant woman through the window, which lacked glass of any kind. There was no other way around. The street they were traveling on was littered with cars and going around completely would mean they'd waste too much time, time that they most likely didn't have anymore.

"Ooow, I don't think I can go on much longer. The baby wants out now, Shadow!" Rouge snapped at him, the pain getting to her. She hated that she had to walk and hated that her boyfriend kept trying to urge her own, even though she knew he only meant well. He despised the thought of their child coming outside of the safety of the Quarantine Zone. Weither you were a mile away or just a few meters, alot could happen in those few steps. That's why he absolutely wanted his girlfriend inside.

Inside where it was safe. Inside where they would have food. Where they would have a roof above their heads, clothes, a place to sleep and protection.

"It's not far anymore." Shadow urged her on, though knowing that she couldn't walk much further. One arm wrapped around her swollen belly while her other hand nearly crushed the bones in Shadow's forearm as another contraction ran through her. Her legs trembled underneath her. With every contraction that passed, it was becoming more and more difficult for her to keep walking.

Shadow turned his gaze away from the white bat to look at the dark wall. He could see the spotlights on top and he could already see the tiny figures of the guards walking from side to side.

They had come so far and were so close. Was it really wise to stop now?

They had to risk it.

Shadow led Rouge into the nearest house and found an old, stained mattress in the livingroom. He helped her sit down on the old thing before the bat hurried to remove her pants, unable to handle the clothing any longer. Shadow caught on quickly and helped her in any way he could.

"Oh! I need to push! I need to push!" Rouge cried, her body racked with pain. The urge to push had been plaguing her and she was dying to give into it. And when her shoes and jeans were finally removed, she could finally give in, pushing along with every contraction.

Even the thunder was drowned out by her cries as Rouge pushed and pushed. Shadow tried to help her along the way as much as he could, but he knew next to nothing about delivering a baby, another reason why he had been so determined to reach the possibly closest Quarantine Zone as fast as possible, so that a professional could do this instead of him.

Well, no turning back now.

"I think I can see the head. Push!" The ebony hedgehog urged her on, motivating her to continue. Not that she needed any encouragement. Finally getting this baby out of her was all the motivation she needed.

The white bat pushed and pushed until she could feel the baby leave her. A moan out of relief left her as her head lied down on the mattress, her eyes closing. She was reliefed this was finally over.

Shadow caught the baby in his arms and made quick work of the umbilical cord, staining his clothes with blood and the like. He stared down at the small form as he held it in his arms. The baby was crying the lungs out of its body and yet all the father could do was stare at him, speechless.

"It's a boy... Rouge, it's a boy!" Shadow exclaimed, a rare smile appearing on his muzzle. He could hardly believe what had just happened. He was only eighteen, but he was already a father. He had a son!

Rouge smiled as she looked up to her boys, tired beyond believe. She watched the little boy move in his father's arms, only just calming down, and her boyfriend smiling down at what he thought to be the most beautiful little thing he had ever seen, despites all the blood still covering him. They would have to clean him up soon.

"What do you think we should call him?" Rouge asked, extending a hand for him to hold. With one arm already holding the baby, Shadow's other hand moved to hold hers.

"I have no idea." The hedgehog responded, still mesmerised by the infant in his arms, who quickly fell asleep as he was incredibly exhausted after being born.

Despites being filthy, they could still make out the colour white. His species was a hedgehog, which was made obvious by the quills. Two big ones on the back of his head and five smaller ones on his forehead.

"Silver. That's what I want to call him." Rouge suddenly said, breaking the silence. Shadow gazed down at her to find the white bat wearing a small smile, her eyes glued to the baby.

"Silver." Shadow repeated, agreeing to her choice.

"We'll have to rest here for a little while. Do you think you can travel tomorrow?" Shadow asked, changing the subject for a little while as lightning struck again. They were so close to the closest Quarantine Zone. He wanted to get there quick and leave the dangerous outside behind.

"Shadow, can't this wait until tomorrow?" Rouge asked, her eyes drooping as she was tired without a doubt. They were still focussed on the baby, though. She loved the sight of him sleeping in his father's arms.

"You're right, that's something we should discuss tomorrow. You should sleep and get some rest." Shadow agreed, they only had a few more blocks to go, but that would take alot out of her, especially now.

Shadow gazed back down at the sleeping boy. He looked so peaceful. Filthy, but peaceful.

Something had to be done, though. It was about time that boy got cleaned. They didn't have anything to heat water up, so Shadow hoped that lukewarm water would be enough. He could use an old shirt of his or something to dry him afterwards.

Carefully the black hedgehog pried his hand free to use it to pull their backpacks closer and retrieve some water.

When he let go of Rouge's hand, however, he couldn't help but notice how limply it fell to the mattress.

"Rouge..." Shadow muttered her name. He was quickly growing worried. Sure, one could argue that she had simply fallen asleep, but something just seemed off about her much too still form. It didn't sit well with him.

"Rouge? Rouge, wake up!" The hedgehog felt himself beginning to panic as more time passed without getting a response from her. He even shook her, though not too rough.

"No, you can't do this to me, Rouge! Rouge!" No matter how many times he called her name, the bat stayed completely silent. All Shadow managed to do was wake their son up, who swiftly started crying.

His heart sunk more and more the longer the silence continued.

He checked for breathing, but felt nothing. Then he checked for her pulse next, but felt nothing there either.

That's when it hit him.

Rouge was gone.

What he had believed as simply falling asleep and resting up for a possible long day tomorrow was instead his lover quietly, peacefully passing away.

Shadow hadn't noticed a thing.

The hedgehog stood up and took a few steps back. He looked around the room as if it held some sort of answer for him. He didn't know what to do.

Could he still help her? Should he stay? Should he risk it and make a run for it to the Quarantine Zone?

Rouge was already growing colder, the cold atmosphere created by the stormy weather made sure of that. There was no saving her.

That realisation made Shadow's heart ache even more. He knew her for as long as he could remember, they grew up together. They were friends. They had been lovers for little over two years now and they had been traveling for just as long. She was all he had left.

Going on without her just seemed... pointless.

The newborn's crying caught his attention and he allowed himself to breath again, only just realising he had been unable to do so with how much his chest seemed to ache. He wasn't just devastated, he was scared too.

He had never been alone before. In the Quarantine Zone he grew up in he had his older brother and Rouge at his side and during his travels he had just Rouge, but never had he been alone like this before. In times like these, humans and mobians alike found reassurance in the saying 'safety in numbers'. No one liked to be alone in times like these.

Silver cried harder, calling his father's attention. Something was ailing him, but Shadow couldn't figure out what. The sudden loss of his lover had taken common sense away from him too. Was Silver cold? Was he hungry? Was he sick? Was Shadow holding him wrong? Shadow knew just what to do before, but now seemed unable to come up with the most straightforward answer.

His mind was a wreck and his heart kept beating up a storm in his chest while all he could do was stand in the middle of the livingroom and stare at the lifeless body of Silver's mother.

He had to calm down. He had to think clearly again.

And then he made his decision.

Just minutes later he found himself sprinting in the pouring rain, hurrying for the safety that the walls up ahead would provide. The jacket he had been wearing to protect himself from the downpour was now wrapped protectively around the small form of his infant. The boy was still crying, but he could hardly be heard over the booming thunder.

"Almost. Almost." Shadow panted as he continued to run as fast as his legs could carry him. He didn't want to waste any more time, he wanted the two of them in the Quarantine Zone already. Where it was safe, where there was help, food, warmth, a place to stay.

But the hedgehog's breath got caught in his throat when he nearly tripped over the slippery wet asphalt of the broken street. He had only just managed to save himself, his eyes widened at the thought of what could've happened and his heart once again pounding in his ribcage. He had a tight grip on Silver to his chest, though not enough to bring him any pain.

Then the beam of a flashlight blinded him.

"Who goes there?! Get down on your knees with your hands behind your head!"

It was an outside patrol guard, someone in charge of patrolling outside the wall. His gun was loaded and aimed at Shadow with precision. The hedgehog thought it to be a wise decision to follow the order, but just as he was carefully getting down on his knees to show that he wasn't a threat, he was suddenly pushed down instead.

Another two outside patrol guards had decided to join their colleague. Their guns were aimed at the defenseless hedgehog too. Sure, he had weaponry of his own, but he wasn't planning on using any of them.

"What's your name?" One of the guards asked, lowering his gun to his side when he noticed what the hedgehog was holding, or rather who. Someone holding a baby couldn't possibly form a threat.

"Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog. This is my son, Silver." Shadow answered, using no smugness or any of that sort. He had to co-operate if he wanted a place for Silver and himself on the inside.

"Your son? Aren't you a bit young?" The same guard asked, one of his eyebrows raised in question. Of course Shadow was too young. Even in the apocalypse, teenage pregnancy was still largely frowned upon.

"Why are you here?" The guard asked instead, figuring that he probably wasn't going to get an answer from him on that question.

"I've been traveling for nearly two years now. I came here in the hope of getting a roof above my head and help for my son." Shadow replied, looking up to the guard. His whole body was shivering because of the cold and the rain. It only made him hold Silver closer.

The guard huffed. Not everyone could be just let into Quarantine Zone.

"Are you bitten?"

"No."

They'd check later despites his truthful answer anyway.

"Are you alone?"

"...Yes."

His mind couldn't help but wander back to Rouge. He felt guilty for leaving her there, even though she was already long gone.

"What can you possibly offer us?" The guard asked. Even in Quarantine Zones, food was limited. Not scarce, but still limited. Every new mouth to feed meant less food. If they had to share their meals with him, it had to be worthwhile.

"I went to military school! I was unable to finish it, but I know how to handle a gun, I know how to defend myself." Shadow quickly said to convince them to let him in.

Military school was one of the only schools still standing. Military was important in Q-Zones. They prevented riots, took care of troublemakers, kept threats outside where they belonged, etc. That's why the majority of teens were send to military school, like Shadow. Although his registration into the school was on courtesy of his older brother, who held a high position in the military back home himself.

The guard watched Shadow intently, trying to spot any sign that might tell him that this hedgehog was being untruthful.

But he couldn't find any and so he let his superiors know of the stranger they found outside the wall holding a crying baby in his arms.

Not long after, the wide metal gate opened and Shadow knew he and Silver were safe.

* * *

 _This is all for now! But please! Do tell your friends about this story! And your friends' friends! And the creepy old guy living a couple houses away from you!_


	2. It's Home

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!_

 _So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one._

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. :)_

 _Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Chapter 1 - It's Home**

 _-Year 2036, summer-_

The sound of water dripping down from the ceiling and the noises their feet made was all the two could hear as they walked through the tunnel, their noses just barely able to handle the smell that usually hung around in sewers like this.

"Ugh, why did we get stuck with sewer duty? It's not like there's anyone around here." One of the two guards, a human well in his thirties, asked his companion, who happened to be an ebony black hedgehog.

Shadow sighed. The guy he had been partnered up with for today was notorious for being a whiny one. Ever since they had been given the task of checking the sewer out, he had been complaining non-stop about it. The sound of his voice was even enough to scare the rats away.

"You know why the sewers have to be checked. If we don't check them everyday, people, or even worse, dead people might use it as a way to get in." Shadow informed him once again, trying to surpress another sigh when his partner came with a 'but'. The latter especially seemed to be skilled in getting into places they didn't need to be without even trying.

What was his partner's name anyway? Steven? Stephen? Stewart? Well, Shadow was atleast certain it began with a 'ste-'.

Anyway, Shadow could not understand why the importance of checking the sewer system did not sink into the human's mind. It wouldn't be the first time a Quarantine Zone fell because of laziness or incompetence.

Shadow continued on, his human partner following right behind him. If he wanted to get this over and done with quickly, they had to continue on. Shadow wasn't all that keen on staying here for long either.

Sewers creeped him out. Dark places in general creeped him out. He'd be glad when this was finally over.

They passed tunnel after tunnel, accompanied by only eachother, the guns they had been given for their protection and the rats that scattered away as soon as they footsteps neared.

In the following hours they spend searching the seemingly endless sewer system for any leaks or uninvited guests, they finally reached the last dead end, a sewer tunnel sealed up as that part of the sewer was unnecessery and would only serve to give people the opportunity to infiltrate their home.

Sure, the ones trying to get into the Q-Zone could have nothing but good intentions and wanted nothing more than a roof above their head, like Shadow three years ago. But just like before the apocalypse, there were still plenty of bad people around. Maybe even more now that laws back then aren't enforced as much as now.

Three years ago, Silver was most likely the real reason why they even considered to let him in.

"Our work here is done. We should head back." Shadow said after concluding that the sewer system must be safe until the next check up, something that ste-something was very grateful for.

Once they breached the surface, both of them took a deep breath of fresh air, reliefed beyond believe that they were no longer assaulted by the overwhelming smell that hung around down below.

The only open entrance to the sewer was near the military building, which was actually just an enermous warehouse repurposed. This zone used to have a real military base when it was first set up, but that part of the zone had been lost about five years after the Outbreak had started twenty-one years ago. It had fallen quickly, but it got back on its feet just as quickly and it had stayed strong.

Nevertheless, that didn't mean people liked or trusted the military.

Shadow knew this and he understood that. That's why it was easy for him to ignore the staring he got from people he passed by on his way to the military warehouse. There was a metal fence standing between him and them, so he didn't feel particularly threatened. And even if the fence wasn't there, Shadow still had his automatic rifle in hand, ready for use.

Civilians weren't really happy with the military, but despites that, he still choose to pursuit the career of patrol guard, managing just fine, even though Shadow had not even finished military school. His reason for joining was the same reason they were loathed.

The perks.

Shadow had never been a selfish person, but the advantages of working in the military was just simply something he could not deny his son. A home in the more better accomodations, a certain education for his son and dibs on food that wasn't over date.

There wasn't alot to share, so Shadow kept himself from feeling guilty by reminding himself that he only wanted what's best for his son in a world where there was little opportunity.

In the armory, Shadow made quick work of stripping himself of any and all weaponry and army attire, leaving his stuff behind there and in his locker. He took a quick shower, running water was another luxury that only existed within the Quarantines, and dressed into his usual clothes. Jeans, sneakers and a black sleeveless top. The latter helping quite alot with this hot weather, despites it dark colour.

Once all of that was over and done with, Shadow had to write and file a report about the patrol in the sewers. He took some paper, a pen and got to work. He was in the middle of his work when someone tapped him on the shoulder before dropping down on the chair next to him.

"Samuels." The ebony hedgehog muttered as he addressed the human sitting next to him.

"How is my favourite hedgehog doing?" Samuels asked and took a bite from his apple, leaning back against the chair he sat upon.

Samuels was a human who was atleast in his late forties, but seemed to feel like he wasn't much older than Shadow. He had reddish, brownish hair and brown eyes, but more importantly, he was the guard who had decided to let him in three years ago, the one who he met outside of the wall on that rainy night.

After father and son were checked out, cleared and given a place to stay where they could recuperate after a two year journey, Samuels had made it his job to keep tabs on Shadow and his young spawn aswell as made it his hobby to interrupt the hedgehog during his work.

"We're doing fine." Shadow simply responded, never having been the type of person to socialise.

That was one of the first things Samuels noticed after Shadow's arrival and so getting the hedgehog to make small talk was another one of his hobbies.

"The sewers, huh? That's a nasty place. Dark, smelly and you can never know when what's gonna jump out at you." The human stated after sneaking a peek at the page Shadow was writing on, the hedgehog's style of writing significantly difference than that of a right-handed person.

"It wasn't all that bad. I'm just glad we didn't encounter anything." Shadow answered, not once taking his eyes off of the paper. He wanted to get it done and get home quickly. The longer he would take to finish this, the longer he'd be spending his time here.

"Yeah, well, Jen and Jean weren't so lucky today. They're okay, but they had quite a scare." Samuels said, earning a worried look from his hedgehog friend, which he noticed.

"Don't worry, none of them got in." He quickly reassured the ebony one, who soon breathed a sigh of relief.

And so the conversation ended.

Samuels frowned at the mobian sitting on the chair next to him, who silently worked on his report. He didn't understand Shadow's anti-social behaviour as mobians were just as much dependent on company as humans were. But he figured that it had something to do with how little time Shadow has been in this Q-Zone. People don't easily trust strangers who come from outside the wall and Shadow's lack of social skills really didn't help.

So as the silence continued and Shadow was nearing the end of his report, the human decided to bring up a different subject.

"So, you've been here for three years now, huh? How is your kid doing? He fitting in okay?" He asked. Shadow smiled at the thought of his son, one of the only few things that managed to put a curl in his lips.

"Silver is doing a better job at fitting in than I am." The ebony hedgehog responded as he finished the report just as Samuels finished his apple.

"That's good to hear. Atleast one of you is trying his best to make friends." Samuels joked. Back when the two of them first met, the human's serious expression and attitude had Shadow thinking he was as serious as he looked, but all of that changed when the human began to seek him out and Shadow got to know the real him.

Shadow didn't mind too much. Samuels knew what having a duty meant and when it came to performing it, he knew when not to joke around.

"Speaking of Silver, I have to get home to him now that that report is finished." Shadow said while he got up from his seat and left the room.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow. Tell Silver I said 'hi'!" Samuels shouted after Shadow before he was out of sight.

After leaving the room, Shadow passed room after room until he ascended a flight of stairs and knocked on the door, entering only when he heard a muffled 'come in'.

Sitting behind an old metal desk sat another human. Obviously in his late fifties - early sixties, with grey hair and a pair of eyes of which the colours didn't match eachother. He wore a worn uniform that obviously screamed how high his position in the military was. The name stitched on his left breast stated his name was 'Abraham Tower'.

"Shadow, I assume you have finished the report on your and Stephan's patrol in the sewers?" Commander Tower asked as he straightened himself in his seat and leant forward.

That's right, Stephan, that was the whiny one's name.

"Yes, I have sir. The patrol went just fine, but details are in the report." Shadow replied as he handed the document over.

"That's good, you are dismissed, Shadow." The Commander gave the first page of his report a quick scan before dismissing the hedgehog, planning on reading it more thoroughly when he was alone and in peace.

Shadow didn't mind the short conversation. Now that he was dismissed, he could go home.

He wasted little time in leaving the building and the premises, allowed to get past the gate of the fence that seperated the civilians from the army.

It was late and so very little people were still outside, but Shadow still felt their eyes on him, but he ignored them as he usually did and made his way to the school building.

The school was divided into four sections. Elementary, military, factory and farm school.

Strangely enough, elementary students ranged from children as young as two to as old as fourteen, after which they had to choose between military and factory school. Students for the military school, of course, ended up in the army like Shadow, but students of the factory school, a term people had gradually started using for the third section, would be trained to work in the factories.

Not many Quarantine Zones still had running factories, but those that were able to use them, only used them for necessary stuff like food and weaponry for example, the food provided by the farmers graduated from farm school.

Simple, but straightforward terms.

Those that wanted to learn how to be a doctor and the like, had to find one and convince them to accept them as apprentices.

Shadow was now on his way to pick up Silver. The boy was only three years old, but he already found himself learning how to read, write and math and the like. The mayor of this Q-Zone apparently thought it was a good idea to start stuffing the youth's head full with knowledge at a younger age, most likely thinking that growing up faster was the way to go.

Shadow didn't agree with the QZ mayor's vision, but could not complain. If he had kept Silver any longer out of school, the boy might've not even been accepted, army dad or not. Besides, the young hedgehog would've been much too behind on everything.

The ebony hedgehog reached the school and made his way to the gym, which was used as daycar during after school hours as there were many parents who had to make late hours, Shadow being one of them.

Shadow was happy when he entered the gym and immediatly spotted his son's white quills among the other mobian and human children.

He was about to call him, but the son had seen his father arrive before he could as much as open his mouth.

"Daddy!" Silver shouted loudly and dropped whatever toys he had been playing with to get up on his feet and run like mad to the older hedgehog, who smiled as he went to his knees and took the silvery boy in his arms to pick him up and hold him close.

Silver returned the hug just a tight, burying his muzzle in his father's shoulder. He shared his father's happiness in being reunited.

"How was school?" Shadow asked, chuckling at his son's clinginess.

"We read lots of books and we played lots too!" Silver was quite good at speaking for his age and was a quick learner too, two things that made his father very proud.

"That sounds like fun." Shadow stated while Silver went on to tell him about his fun time in the daycare. He moved towards the bookcase, used by the kids to keep their school bags and shoes in as they weren't allowed to wear them on the mate where they played. He told Silver to put his shoes on while he talked to the teacher, Silver's backpack in hand.

"Oh, he was as delightful as usual!" The teacher immediatly chirped as she noticed the ebony mobian approach her.

"His teacher has told me that he's been a very good boy. No timeouts, always listening to his teacher, playing with his friends, just such a sweet, sweet boy." The woman added, she was not much older than Shadow and she was a blond mobian cat.

"That's good to hear." Shadow responded, once again not saying all that much.

As soon as he could talk, Silver had proven himself to be quite the social boy, much unlike his father, who liked to keep to himself. People figured that the white hedgehog took more after his mother on that front, whoever that may be.

Shadow didn't talk much about her, if at all.

"I'll see you two tomorrow! Bye Silver!" The mobian cat said her goodbyes, knowing there wasn't much more she was going to get out of Silver's dad and returned to the children, waving at Silver, who eagerly waved back and shouted a 'Bye Miss!'

Shadow went back to his son and re-tied his shoes, the silvery one seemed to have a little trouble with tying his laces the right way, before grabbing the backpack from him and telling him that it was time to go home.

The small boy smile and grabbed his father's hand, eager to return home, his father couldn't help but return it before leaving the gym.

* * *

It didn't take long for the two hedgehogs to arrive home, the silvery boy eagerly running inside.

Their home was situated in one of the more preserved apartment complexes that were still liveable. Not many people spend time cleaning their place and so alot of times the buildings were filthy and unkept. Shadow was one of the few who actually still tried in keeping his place decent whenever he could.

Not that there was a whole lot in their apartment. The livingroom had a filthy couch that just could not be cleaned no matter how hard he tried, a tv with a broken screen, a few dressers and a coffee table. The kitchen had the usual counter, cabinets and appliances, though most of them weren't used, but Shadow didn't really know what to do with them and so just kept them standing there.

There was also a bathroom with a toilet, bath, sink and shower and two bedrooms. One of the bedrooms had a two-person bed, a dresser, a nightstand and a closet. The other bedroom had a one-person bed, a dresser, a nightstand and toys.

Silver ran straight inside while his father picked up a box stealed with plastic wrapping that stood just outside of the door and walked straight to the kitchen to drop it off there, after closing the door, of course.

His son immediatly caught sight of the box and quickly followed the older hedgehog into the kitchen, looking up to the carton box in curiosity.

"Is that our food, daddy?" Silver asked, trying to see what the box contained, something that was just impossible from his vantage point.

Every week on monday each home got a box delivered to their door with a week's worth of food. Military families, like Shadow and Silver, usually got boxes with food that was the least likely to turn bad in the next few days or weren't all over date already. These boxes were always delivered during work hours and so it would happen once or twice that Shadow found their food box missing that monday as it wasn't an all to reliable system for the obvious reason that theft could occur.

Whenever that happened, however, Samuels was always glad to pitch in. No lover or kids to take care of, he gladly shared his food with someone who needed it.

Today that, thankfully, wasn't necessary. Just last week he and Silver had to share meals with his co-worker, but that didn't seem to be the case this time, much to the ebony's relief.

"Daddy, what're we eating?" Silver asked, jumping up and down to try and get a glimpse of what the box contained within. Shadow pulled a can of tomato soup out of the box and Silver groaned in dissapointment. He wasn't particularly fond of soup, no matter what it was made off.

Shadow couldn't keep his chuckle from coming when he heard Silver's groan.

"Don't worry, we'll eat something better tomorrow." He reassured the young hedgehog and ruffled the quills on top of his head like only a hedgehog could.

"Promise?" Silver pouted.

"Promise." Shadow reassured him before he went on to prepare their late dinner.

Soup was easy to make, so it didn't take long before Shadow could set up the table and the two could eat. One happily blabbered on and on about what happened at school while the other silently listened with just a smile.

After dinner, Shadow made quick work of the dishes and put the food from the box away.

Not long after, it was time for Silver to sleep, their dinner had been pretty late.

"Come on, Silver, time for bed!" Shadow stated as he suddenly picked the boy up, making him yelp in surprise and quickly cling onto his father like life depended on it.

There was always something about scaring his kid that amused Shadow. He didn't know if it was unique to him or if it was the inner troll every dad had deep inside of him, but either way, he was easily amused by it.

"I don't wanna go to bed." Silver protested as he looked up to his father, wearing an obvious pout.

"Well, I'm not giving you any other choice because you have school tomorrow." Shadow told him in a way that reassured Silver that nothing he said or did could change his mind and dropped the hedgehog off in the bathroom, quickly turning the light on.

"Now change in your pajamas. When I come back, I expect to see you changed." The ebony one demanded, though not harshly, and left for Silver's bedroom to clean his room of toys, a job quickly done as there wasn't alot of them.

When he returned to the bedroom, he noticed that Silver had listened and was now trying to reach his toothbrush to clean his teeth. Silver could only just reach the sink and was therefore nowhere near his toothbrush.

But still, Shadow admired his undying determination.

After helping him brush his teeth, Silver was put to bed, getting a bed time story after much begging and convincing that he could not sleep without one.

Now that Silver was asleep, Shadow suddenly felt alone. With nothing much left to do, he found himself sitting at the kitchen table and looking out of the window to stare at the city.

It wasn't an impressive view, but still something to behold, even in the dark. Nothing but darkness, neglected buildings, filth littering the streets and the high wall with the spotlights on top.

It made Shadow silently wonder what the city looked like before the outbreak.

It wasn't like he could remember. Twenty-one years ago, the outbreak had occured just a month after he was born. His brother was the one who remembered the day of the outbreak and what life was like before. There was, after all, atleast twenty years between them.

Their parents had started pretty young too and they were only thirty-six when they had a twenty year old son and a second child on the way.

History had a funny way of repeating itself, although Shadow was two years older when he got Silver.

Either way, being born before or after the outbreak, this life was all Shadow knew and this was his home.

* * *

 _I have decided that my chapters should be atleast 15 kB. That's why they're suddenly longer. :)_


	3. Again

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here to bring you next chapter of 'Still Fighting'! :D_

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. :)_

 _Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Chapter 2 - Again**

 _-Year 2036, summer-_

 _"Ugh, Shadow, you can be so lazy, you know that?"_

 _"Come on, sleepyhead! It's morning, it's time for us to go!"_

 _Shadow had no other choice but to listen as the person trying to wake him up was infamous for resorting to drastic meassures when she deemed it necessary. He thought it'd be a wise decision to listen and get up now while she was still lovingly rubbing his back._

 _His crimson eyes fluttered open and he had to turn his head to face the source of the voice as he had been lying on his front. He looked up to her and his red eyes met with her blue ones._

 _White fur, a haircut typical for her, a tan muzzle, her smile. A bat with no wings._

 _"Rouge..."_

* * *

Shadow woke up early in the morning just as the first morning light seeped in through a couple of holes in the curtains, filling his bedroom with a little bit of light. His eyes opened and fell on the clock hanging on the wall to see that it was six in the morning. Batteries were a rare commodity outside, but in the walls they were still very much in use.

He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, his hands rubbing in his face as he felt like he hadn't slept nearly enough as he would've liked. He wanted to stay in his dream for atleast a little while longer. The dream had been over much too quickly.

But he had to get up and think of more important things. Like what day it was today.

It was the 28th of August.

Today was the day Rouge had passed away.

But on a more positive note, today was also Silver's third birthday.

Shadow pulled his shoes on and pushed himself up from his bed to leave his room and went straight to the kitchen after a quick visit to the bathroom. He had fallen asleep in the clothes he wore the day before, so there was no need to change. Instead he went on to set up the table for two and prepared Silver's lunch for today before deciding to wake the boy up.

He made his way to the kid's bedroom and sat down at his side.

"Silver, it's time to wake up." Shadow told him as he coaxed the now three-year-old to wake up. Silver, however, didn't really feel like waking up. Instead he groaned upon hearing his dad's voice and turned on his other side. When that didn't work, he hid himself under the covers, hoping that'd give him atleast a little more time, but Shadow just pulled the blanket away.

"Silver, you do realise what day it is today, right?" Shadow asked and earned another groan from Silver, but that quickly changed when the boy let the question sink in.

Silver realised soon after what Shadow had been refering to and shot up in bed with a wide grin on his face.

"It's my bithday!" He chirped loudly in happiness, 'birthday' being one of the few words he still had a little difficulty articulating right.

Shadow chuckled at his child's enthousiasm.

"That's right! And can the birthday boy tell me how old he turns today?" He asked, a smile visible on his tan muzzle.

"Three!" Silver loudly responded, holding up both of his hands with three fingers of each in the air.

"Really? Are you that big already?" Shadow asked in return, upon which Silver eagerly nodded.

"And what would the birthday boy like to eat tonight?" He asked. There wasn't much he could give his son for his birthday. The toys he had given him were ones he had found somewhere in the city and he hadn't found any this year. So he hoped allowing his son to choose what to eat this evening would be enough.

Upon hearing his question, Silver jumped out of his bed to run out of his room and into the kitchen to look in the pantry. Shadow watched the boy go before getting up and following him. He walked in to see Silver looking through the pantry as high as he could get, the cabinets being far out of his reach. Shadow leant against the doorframe and crossed his arms as he watched Silver go about his way. Not that there was a whole lot of food in the pantry.

When Silver figured he needed to get higher, he looked towards his father for help.

"Need help?" Shadow asked and he nodded. So the ebony one approached the lighter one and picked him up in arms, keeping him seated on his hip. This way Silver had a higher vantage point.

When there wasn't anything in the pantry, they looked in the fridge next.

"Meat lof!" Silver immediatly shouted, pointing at the package. There wasn't alot Silver liked, he could be quite the picky eater at times, but anything was better than soup in his oppinion.

"Loaf. But sure, I can make that for dinner." Shadow corrected him, but he did promise Silver to make him the dinner he wanted, making Silver give a cheer of joy.

"Now go dress up, you still have school today." He told him and put the boy down on the floor so he could run along to the bathroom and get ready for a new day.

While Silver got dressed, Shadow prepared breakfast for the two of them.

After breakfast and the two were ready to go, Shadow and Silver soon stood outside of their apartment. Silver waited until the door was locked before grabbing his dad's hand and the two were on their way.

It was early in the morning, but the streets were already bustling with life. Parents taking their children to school, people on their way to work, people on their way home from work. The two hedgehogs easily blended in with the crowd as they walked towards the school.

About ten minutes later, they arrived at the school building and walked inside. Shadow brought Silver to his class in the elementary section of the school and dropped him off after telling the teacher her student had arrived. Shadow told his son goodbye, to which the boy responded with a tight hug and a reluctance to let go, and left.

After that, Shadow quickly left for work. The sooner he got there, the sooner he'd be home again. He would've liked to stay home today with Silver so that they could do something other than work and school, but unfortunatly, getting a day off from work was very rare, especially for employees in the military.

He once heard it was normal for children to have the entire July and August off from school, but that wasn't the case here.

Shadow passed the fence and entered the warehouse.

Samuels was the first to see the ebony hedgehog arrive and quickly approached him, dropping a hand on his shoulder and startling him in the process.

"Shadow, you're the one I'm looking for!" The human said as he moved his hand to wrap that arm around his shoulder to pull him along with him.

"Where are we going?" Shadow asked, not appreciating being dragged along like this.

"You and I, pal, are patrolling the wall today." Samuels told him as he brought him to the armory where they could suit up for another day of work. Well, he might not have been able to spend this day with his son, but atleast he was going to have it easy today.

As soon as they were armed and protected, the duo started their trip to the wall along with six other colleagues, ascending an old flight of stairs of which the steps creacked threateningly, the support beams were made out of wood and were old. They needed to get replaced soon before any accidents would happen.

"So it's Silver's birthday today, huh?" Samuels asked once the two arrived on top of the wall after a half an hour trip to the edge of the Quarantine.

"How did you know?" Shadow asked and looked up to the human in surprise.

"You always have this different look in your eyes whenever Silver does something to make you proud or whenever it's his birthday." The forty-year-old simply responded as he continued on.

"Different?" Shadow asked, following his partner as they walked along the wall, his eyes concentrated on the one walking next to him instead of the view outside.

The outside mainly existed out of even more neglected buildings, worse off than the ones on the inside, less life and even more danger. But all that was to be seen from this high up were the abandoned homes and streets surrounding the zone. It was both creepy and amazing to see.

"Yeah, different! Happy." Samuels replied shortly, wearing a serious expression.

"Happy? I am happy! I have a son, a job, a home, food. What's not to be happy about?" Shadow asked, his ears lowering a bit.

Shadow's partner for today decided to stay silent afterwards, feeling like it wasn't his place to continue, but the hedgehog insisted he speak up.

"Well, you know..." Samuels simply said. He didn't dare to go deeper in such a sensitive topic.

He didn't know what Shadow was like when Silver's mother was still in his life, but now the hedgehog just seemed kind of lost. Samuels remembered when Shadow looked happy for the first time since his arrival in the Zone. It was when Silver's first birthday had arrived.

He guessed that beaten look the young father wore was the real reason why he stuck around to help him out so much.

"Let's just concentrate on our work." Shadow sighed in annoyence when his question wasn't answered.

* * *

The hours passed and the sun rose higher and higher into the sky. The air around them grew hotter as more time passed. It was just a few degrees shy of being unbearable. They were this high up, but the breeze blowing by did little to help them.

"It's way too hot." Samuels sighed as he sat on ground with his legs spread and leaning back on his arms, his gun lying next to him.

"Hmm." Shadow hummed in agreement, seemingly deep in thought.

It was a good thing they didn't have much to do. Wall patrol guards usually just had to spend their time walking around and use their high vantage point to see where possible dangers might be and, if necessary, inform the outside patrol guard. The outside patrol guards checked outside the wall from a lower vantage point and eliminated any and all threats while the inside patrol guards kept the order inside the wall.

However, the hot sun in the summer and the cold winds during winter was still a pretty big downside of what should be an easy job.

"I wish I had some water with me, but no, we have to wait until our break is here." Samuels complained, lazily looking over the edge of the walls.

Unlike outside patrol guards, inside and wall guards could have the occassional break through the day. And boy, was he longing for it.

"You think being a human is bad? Try being a black hedgehog." Shadow muttered, though more to himself. His black fur easily attracted the heat of the sun, much to his utter dismay.

Samuels couldn't help but chuckle, still having heard his partner.

But something wiped that look of amusement right off of his face.

Someone came running to them in a hurry, a wide-eyed expression of panic was evident on his face, Shadow noticed, as he stopped near the two of them, drawing the attention of others patrolling the top of the wall as well. The mobian fox, an orange one, had been sprinting to get here on time and had to catch his breath if he wanted to speak. He had to run a long way to get where his colleagues were.

"Thh... There was this group of strangers at... at... at the gate! They... They... They were running from this... this herd of Runners! L-Led them straight to us! By the... By the time the outside patrol guards noticed them... they were overwhelmed and killed!" The man shouted, gasping and panting.

The ones who listened simply looked at the fox in absolute shock and terror, unable to react.

"The Runners got in! The guys stationed down there are already dead! The Commander orders us to hold the Runners off until people are evacuated!" The fox shouted, feeding the fear that people were already feeling.

Shadow could feel his heart drop in his chest and a knot forming in his stomach while it felt like he couldn't breath.

Runners weren't the worst type of dead out there, but they came close and they were inside... Silver!

"Come on, Shadow!" Samuels yelled as he took the hedgehog's arm in a tight grip and pulled him along, noticing that he had been frozen in place.

The hedgehog snapped out of his shocked and frozen stupor, nearly tripping, and followed. Upon passing the gate, he saw the group that had fled here lying on the ground, lifelessly. They had come running here in the hopes of finding solace, only to be slaughtered by the very monsters they had been running from.

Shadow couldn't see their face from this high up, but he just knew they wore an expression of horror, the last feeling they ever felt when the Runners grabbed hold of them and ripped them apart.

Within minutes the wall was abandoned. Any and all military personnel was called down to hold the monster invasion off as much as they could while the civilians tried to evacuate and escape the threat.

The current military base and the fence was all that stood in the Runners way of getting to the civilians.

Shadow had just stepped off the last step of the stairs when he was immediatly assaulted by a Runner.

It was a walking corpse that grabbed hold of him and tried to bite the hedgehog with his filthy, bloody teeth, used many times before to tear at the living. The unbearable stench these undead carried with them was overwhelming, Shadow managed to ignore its disgusting appearance as dried blood covered nearly every inch and bone, muscle tissue and the like were disturbingly exposed, but the horrid smell was different.

He managed to get free of the Runner by shooting it in the face with his gun, blowing its brains out.

But he had little time to breath as another one jumped for him, screaming and gurgling. Shadow didn't let this one get its hands on him and quickly ended its life, the bullet piercing it right between the eyes.

Shadow had to cough because of the heavy stench and had to shoot another two of the monsters before he could take a quick look around.

Runners weren't as dangerous as some more mutated dead could be, but in the nummers they were in right now... Everyone was overwhelmed, people were getting killed left and right already.

Shadow knew when a Quarantine Zone was lost and there was no saving this one anymore.

The hedgehog looked around for his partner, Samuels, but found the man was no where to be found.

That's when everything suddenly became black.

* * *

 _Talk about the worst birthday ever!_

 _One mistake I made in the prologue was that I didn't actually check Silver's actual birthday before writing it, so I still have to stick with it. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and let's hope I'll update soon._


	4. Escape Is Below

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!_

 _So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one._

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. :)_

 _Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Chapter 3 - Escape Is Below**

 _-Year 2036, summer-_

Shadow didn't know for how long he was out or what had happened, but as he regained conciousness and the throbbing of his head became gradually more painful, he was afraid to open his eyes.

He knew they were nearby. He could sense a figure looming over him, its scent too much for his nose, drops of its thick drool landing on his cheek.

He held his breath and opened his eyes.

One of those putrid, foul-smelling undead was on hands and knees, staring straight back at him and drooling all over him. It looked like it was trying to decide if Shadow was alive or not.

The zombie was slow in realising Shadow was staring back at it in fear with wide eyes as its gaze seemed to glide over his body, searching for a sign of life so that it may extinguish it. Shadow took this time to grab the first thing he could and slammed it into the side of the corpse's head. In this position Shadow couldn't muster up nearly enough force to kill what was already dread, but he did manage to throw the thing off of him.

The ebony hedgehog jumped up to his feet, only to stumble and nearly lose his balance. The piece of wood he had used was a piece of a support beam that had fallen from the stairs that lead to the top of the wall. It had landed straight on top of Shadow's head, knocking him out. Thankfully it hadn't fallen from higher up, or it might've been deadly instead of giving him a serious concussion.

Shadow tried to ignore the dizzyness and tried to get out of here. The Runner he had knocked off its feet didn't follow after him, but that didn't mean he was safe. He still had to be careful, he wasn't out of danger yet.

Upon passing a torn down fence, Shadow arrived at the streets and saw that the running dead were literally everywhere. In the hours Shadow had been unconcious, they had spread and taken the place over.

Here and there were a few people still standing their ground, but it was an attempt gone in vain, they were quickly taken care off by the horrific creatures.

Shadow ignored them and instead used them as bait while he tried to sneak past. It had been hours, but he still had to get to the school. The sun was already setting, but Shadow had to risk his chances and get to the school building. Silver still had to be alive, he had to be.

Shadow sneaked, passed and ducked through the streets as he journeyed to his destination, occassionally hitting a dead person in the face using the wooden beam much like a baseballer would use his bat, and it was just as effective as one too.

From time to time he could hear some poor woman or unfortunate man's cries of terror fill the air before they suddenly ceased, but he couldn't think too much of it. He knew what was happening.

After what seemed to be an eternity, the ebony hedgehog reached the school. Much to his relief, the Runners hadn't gotten here in masses yet.

He climbed over the metal fence that surrounded the school, his dizziness plaguing him again at the top, and dropped back down on the other side. He noticed that Silver's teacher lied lifelessly on the ground while her insides were being eaten on by a couple of Runners and felt his stomach drop.

The sight was sickening, for sure, but this also meant less hope for finding his son alive in here.

But he had to keep faith.

He might've failed Rouge, but he refused to do the same to his son.

Shadow broke into the school through a window as more of those creatures were trying to break down the front entrance. He found himself in a classroom and braved his way to the corridor, opening the door just enough to see if it was safe.

Evacuation protocal stated that all the employees and students had to gather in the gym, secure the doors and wait for help to arrive, so Shadow decided to go there first. Silver's teacher might be lying dead at the front, but that didn't mean the boy hadn't been brought there by someone else.

And luck would have it that he was only a few corridors away.

Deciding that the hallway was clear, Shadow exited the classroom and walked through the hallway, passing from door to door silently. He walked by the occasional corpse of a teacher or student who had lost their life and tried his best not to look at their empty eyes.

He still had his gun too and there were still quite alot of Runners he had to pass, but those he couldn't simply sneak by, he would quickly kill with a couple of painful blows to the head. he'd rather use his gun instead of a melee weapon, but he had to be quiet if he didn't wish to make noise and attract even more of them.

His breath had to be held a couple of times when he was sure a few of the creatures would've heard him and he was always thankful when they hadn't.

The closer the hedgehog got to the school's gymnasium, the less and less he was seeing these monsters around. It made him hopeful that they hadn't reached his son yet.

And after passing the last corner, he finally saw the pair of double doors up ahead.

Shadow wanted nothing more than to sprint to the doors and simply burst inside, but that would give away his location. So he sneaked onward, careful not to make a noise while also trying his best to still his fiercely beating heart.

When he reached the pair of wooden doors and entered inside, his heart sunk again.

The gym was completely empty of life. It was mess. Shadow was so sure those monsters hadn't reached the gym yet and he would find all the teachers, students and maybe a few of his co-workers here, but all he found were more dead people sure to get back up in a matter of hours and the backpacks and P.E clothes of children strewn about.

One of the corpse he even recognised as the nice cat who always looked after Silver after school, her throat had been ripped clean out and her white fur was painted in red. Her eyes were still looking up to the ceiling and her mouth was still agape as a result of a last scream.

The ebony one stood in the middle of the room as he looked around. He was at a loss on what to do. Should he try Silver's classroom? Should he escape and hope to find him outside as someone might've been so kind as to get Silver out of this deathtrap too?

Shadow was about to turn tail and leave, but then sobbing reached his ears. It was sob and if you didn't concentrate his hearing, he would've missed it, but it was definitely there.

Shadow could recognise it from everywhere.

He ran towards the sobs and quickly pinpointed the source in a locker in the gym's locker room. He passed a few lockers until he got to the one in the corner. Whoever was inside had heard the hedgehog's footsteps and tried so hard to keep himself from crying, but Shadow already knew where the sound came from.

In his hurry he practically ripped the locker door open and found a pair of amber eyes looked back at him from the bottom.

"Daddy!" Silver cried out in fear and reached with his arms as soon as he saw his father figure. Shadow wasted little time in picking the boy up and holding him close to his chest, one hand placed on the back of Silver's head. The boy immediatly began to sob and cry, so reliefed and happy that his father had finally come for him.

He had been crying in that locker for hours already and right now he wasn't able to contain himself either. He was safe in the older hedgehog's arms and that feeling worsened his sobs.

"Sh, it's okay. I'm here now. You're safe." Shadow comforted the young one in his arms, feeling his heart ache upon hearing those sobs of fear. Silver's arms wrapped around his neck as far as he could go with his short arms, his muzzle burying itself in the other's shoulder and his small hands had a tight grip on his shirt.

Everything around them was forgotten for a few moments in favour of savouring this reunion. Shadow had been scared to death when he thought for what seemed to be an eternity that he may have lost his son. Silver, on the other hand, believed the whole time he would be eaten by one of those scary monsters he saw attack the daycare teacher before he managed to hide in one of the lockers.

Gradually Shadow managed to calm the distressed boy down, who was now sniffing on his dad's shoulder, but he still held on with a vice grip, as if afraid that the older hedgehog might somehow dissapear.

"Silver, I'm going to get us out of here, but you need to stay quit. I don't want to hear a single sound, okay?" Shadow told the white mobian. He knew Silver had been in need of crying, but now that he had calmed down a little, it was best he stay quiet until Shadow knew they were safe.

Silver nodded to show that he'd listen while rubbing his eyes, still hiccuping.

When certain that his son was secure enough in his hold, Shadow decided to pay attention to other matters. Like getting out of here. The Runners hadn't returned yet and so Shadow wanted to leave before it was too late.

He left the locker room and made his way back to the double doors of the gym. As silently as possible he tried to open the door on a crack to check if the hall was clear before leaving the gymnasium, though he still had to take a moment to gently hush Silver as the three-year-old jumped at the tiniest of noises.

Shadow was extra cautious now that he had his son with him. He checked the hallways several times and spotted the best hiding spots before passing through them. He avoided confrontation as much as possible, though he still often found himself bashing the heads in of those who were in his way.

Sourly, he noted that there were more Runners inside then minutes earlier and as he just passed the front entrance of the school and hid behind a door post, the double doors serving as the entrance gave in and a wave of new zombies poured into the school.

They were slow and obviously not as active as the Runners, who had been the only ones invading the Quarantine until now.

Shadow felt somewhat reliefed.

These were Wanderers.

Wanderers weren't considered as lethal as Runners could be as their overal slow speed made them easy to avoid. Their threat mostly lied in the fact that they came in large numbers. Should you find yourself surrounded, it was still impossible to escape.

Runners made use of them as there was no difference in appearance. Both rotten, covered in blood and other bodily fluids, an incredibly bad stench and tattered clothing. Runners could blend in with their slow cousins and deceive people into thinking they were no different until it was too late.

And if deception wasn't enough, Runners were more likely to mutate faster too.

These two kinds of dead were considered the regular zombies. All others were of the mutated kind.

So long as Shadow didn't end up running into either one of them, he was almost certain he'd escape from here without a scratch, minus the concussion still plaguing him, of course.

But they finally managed to escape through the same window Shadow had used to get in. He was concealed by the thick bushes planted in many numbers at the front of the school and so decided to catch his breath. It wasn't that he was out of breath, but the tension and stress had taken a toll on him and he felt like he needed a moment before continuing on, should he want to avoid making a mistake.

A sigh of relief left the hedgehog as he sat back against the school's brick wall. Silver was sitting on his lap with his face still buried in his chest and his arms around his neck, obediently staying quiet.

Shadow caught his breath and moved to a crouched position to readjust his hold on the child before getting back to his feet and leaving the school's premises.

* * *

The moon was already high in the sky by the time Shadow arrived back on military ground. He had been extra cautious and slow on the way there to avoid any possible confrontation now that he had his little boy with him, the young hedgehog now walking besides him as Shadow needed both hands in order to bash a skull in.

Every inch of the poor thing was still trembling in fright. He managed to stay quiet as his father's presence was a huge comfort. With the older hedgehog around, it just seemed like nothing could harm him.

Now that he had brought them back here, their next destination would be the entrance to the sewers. Shadow was aware that it was near the gate where all the dead had come from, but the sewers might be their only way out.

He knew this one dead end that was particularly weak. If he could somehow break it open, he could find a manhole and breach the surface on the other side of the wall, preferably far away from here.

The hedgehog just hoped that none of those creatures had gotten below ground yet. It would make his job so much easier.

After sneaking past the last of the Runners, the entrance to the sewers appeared not far up ahead. Silver shot him a worried look, but Shadow wordlessly reassured him that they would be just fine.

The entrance to the sewage system below was a simple manhole and usually zombies only got down there by complete accident, when a manhole was left open and one of them was dumb enough to fall down for example. But sometimes due to neglect or explosives, large holes would be created, exposing the tunnels below the ground and giving anyone access to them.

Those two were the two main reasons for encountering the dead down below. Those and the occassional poor bastard who had been bitten and decided that the sewers was a suitable place to die.

As silently as possible, Shadow lifted the cover of the manhole, trying not to groan as the thing was most definitely as heavy as it looked, and opened what was most likely going to be their only ticket out of here.

He went to his knees and looked down the hole. It seemed safe so far. Next he glanced around and deemed it safe enough for Silver.

"Silver, you stay here and wait until I say otherwise, understand?" Shadow told him, looking at the frightened youth. Silver didn't respond as he didn't want to stay here, but his father knew he would listen.

And so the ebony one lowered himself down in the manhole, his feet finding their footing on the ladder, and descended. While the older hedgehog traversed lower and lower, Silver stayed outside, trying not to whine out of fright, though a next fresh gallon of tears weren't so easily surpressed as they began to trail their way down his cheeks.

Being alone up here by himself frightened him and he felt like one of those things that he saw attack his teachers and classmates could pounce on him any moment now that Shadow was out of reach.

He just hoped the black hedgehog would return soon.

Shadow stopped near the end of the ladder and looked around. There was no movement for as far as the eye could see. That had to mean it was safe.

"Okay, Silver, come on down. Be careful!" He told the white hedgehog, looking up hole.

Hearing his father's voice tell him to follow was such a huge relief for the kid. He didn't need to be told twice to follow and carefully lowered himself down the manhole, though a bit slower. His feet were a bit clumsier in trying to find the ladder, but somehow he soon felt solid ground beneath his shoes again. Both father and son breathed a sigh of relief.

"It stinks here." Silver noted as he frowned deeply, reeking the horrible stench coming from the sewage.

"Yes, it does. All the more reason to get out of here soon, right?" Shadow suggested and held his hand out, urging Silver to take it. Silver did take it and immediatly felt a whole lot safer then a few seconds earlier.

* * *

The two walked for what seemed like hours, any adrenaline caused by the fear they felt had abated by now. To Silver it just seemed like the sewers continued on and on without end and the smell made it even more difficult to travel through. Shadow had an easier time walking through these tunnels as he was much more used to the smell, not to mention that he knew they weren't far from escaping from this place.

"Are we there yet?" Silver asked, whispering as if expecting danger nearby, as he looked up to the older hedgehog. He still had a tight hold on his hand.

"Almost." Shadow simply answered, he knew they only had a few more corridors to go. Silver wasn't as convinced as there just didn't seem to be an end to all of these tunnels.

The two supposed they could be glad that the electricity still worked for now. Darkness would've made this sewer a whole lot harder to navigate through.

Eventually Shadow's walking came to a halt as he looked at his right. His sudden stop made Silver look up to him in confusion, wondering why they suddenly stopped, before looking in the same direction as his father.

There was a brick wall with a metal door, one that had been baricated for a long, long time. Doors like these usually led to some sort of storage or some sort of center, Shadow couldn't quite figure out what they were or what to call them.

What he did know was the freedom that could quite possibly lie behind that door.

"We'll be out of here soon." Shadow told his son, who was happy to hear the news.

The two walked up to the door and Shadow removed the baricade, a simple iron pipe. Shadow held onto it as he opened the door, a slow creaking coming from the hinges as it's been a long time since they were last used.

An ominous feeling filled the pit of Shadow's stomach as he looked down the short hallway behind the door. There were some kind of electrical boxes and cabinets covered in dust and cobwebs. There was very little light in here, but enough to walk through.

Shadow didn't think it would take long before they reached the end, but he still held onto the pipe just to be safe. Silver was less reluctant as he could only think of the way out that was supposed to be at the end of this path according to his father.

The two walked past the electrical boxes, one a little more eager than the other, and soon ascended the stairs that led to another door. The ominous feeling the ebony one felt abated as a little bit of light filtered through the slit at the bottom of the door.

Escape should be just behind that door.

The ebony hedgehog approached it and turned the handle, carefully opening it, but the escape he had expected to find turned out to be just another hallway.

Well, atleast they weren't in the sewers anymore.

Silver was happy to smell something other than that putrid stench from down below. The view of a nearby window caught his attention and he couldn't help but go take a look, walking towards it and holding onto the window sill to get a better look.

Past the fence and over the houses he spotted the sky ever so slowly turning from the dark midnight blue to something lighter. They had spend nearly a whole night walking through the sewers.

Seeing the first rays of the sun beginning to light up the sky comforted Silver, his exhaustion made its presence known now too. The sun rising made the boy feel like he was safe, like none of the horrors from yesterday had happened, like they couldn't hurt him anymore.

He was dying to feel the warmth of the sun's light on his fur.

"Come on, let's go!" Silver, unable to wait any longer, grabbed his father's hand and tried to pull him along.

Shadow was touched that his son hadn't lost any of enthousiasm despites everything that happened. He couldn't find it in himself to smile at this like he usually would whenever the silvery boy had one of his excited episodes. But though he had lost his home for a second time, he could only be thankful his son was still okay.

The two walked on for a little while until they came upon, what they thought to be, the last door. Upon trying it, however, they quickly discovered that it would not open, something was keeping it closed.

Weither it was rusty hinges or something else, Shadow was determined to get through. With one hand holding the knob, Shadow slammed his shoulder into the door as hard as he could.

Once, twice, three times of painfully slamming his shoulder into the surface of the wooden door was what it took to force it open. Shadow stumbled inside after the door gave in, but he managed to stay on his feet. Silver ran inside, expecting to quickly feel a breeze brushing through his quills, only to find himself engulfed in darkness instead.

The two froze when the loud clattering of a chair falling over startled them both. It had been used to baricade the door when Shadow tried to force it open. And since neither one of them had seen any of the deceased on their way in, it could only mean someone was trying to lock themselves in.

The young father's eyes grew wide as he immediatly knew what this meant. He had seen and heard plenty of other people do the exact same thing.

It was a last resort for those who had been bitten and dreaded the thought of suffering an insatiable hunger for living flesh for the rest of their days, but lacked the guts to make an end to it themselves.

This room had been imprisoning one of the dead, one who has been denied any flesh and blood for a long, long time and Shadow had freed it.

The hedgehog would've scolded himself if he wasn't already too caught up in staring at his son in fear, as if the boy would dissapear as soon as he as much as glanced away. Silver felt his quills bristle, a reflex he was still very much unfamiliar with. Even he, as young as he was, could sense the impending danger.

The silvery hedgehog was too frightened to look around or to make a single peep. He could only look towards his father with an expression of fear evident on his face. He wanted his dad to come and get him already, wrap his arms protectively around his body and hold him close, where he surely couldn't be harmed.

Shadow, on the other hand, was at a loss on what to do. Should he quickly grab Silver and make a run for it, risking startling the monster that waited within? Or should he be more careful and take a slower and sneakier approach, possibly giving it enough time to snatch Silver away?

The faint sound of hissing from the darkness captivated his ears and nearly made his heart stop beating out of fright.

Only one time in his entire life had he heard that sound. Back when his brother had been around to keep him safe, though the equally dark hedgehog had spend a week hanging on a thin thread between life and death, with Shadow desperatly trying to keep him alive.

It was a Lurker, one of the mutated kinds of dead, and now he had to face this wretched being on his own.

The silhouttte of a deformed face and sickly yellowish eyes peered at the younger one of the two. Shadow noticed and made a quick grab for Silver just as the Lurker lunged at him. The ebony hedgehog could feel its claws scraping at his arms just when he managed to pull the silvery one in his arms and away from danger. It had even gone to fast for Silver to cry out in shock.

The Lurker didn't make a single sound besides hissing in contempt, its dead eyes glaring at the ebony one. He almost froze in fear upon seeing its pupilless eyes stare directly back at him, emotionless, empty, dead.

His heart nearly stopped in his chest when he was suddenly grabbed from behind by his top and roughly dragged away from a swipe from the Lurker's claws, missing by just an inch.

Shadow looked behind him at his rescuer.

It was Samuels.

"Run, Shadow! Get yourself and that boy to safety!" The human yelled, one of his eyes squeezed closed as an ugly gash ran from his right brow to the corner of his lip. It bled profusely, as did most facial injuries. Silver held on tight while Shadow could only stare at Samuels in surprise, but he quickly snapped out of it.

"Samuels..."

"Just go! I'll buy you some time, but you need to go now, Shadow!" The man yelled, insisting that the hedgehog think solely of bringing his son to safety.

Shadow didn't need to be told twice as he turned on his heel and made a run for it, not once looking back. Glad that Silver wasn't all that heavy yet, the ebony one ran as fast as his legs could carry him. A corner, another corner, through a door, he ended up in a room.

He averted his gaze to look back down the hallway to see if his friend made it through, though he already knew at the back of his mind that he was a lost case.

Just moments later the Lurker appeared from around the corner, with blood dripping from its lips and teeth, first in a slow, sneaky pace until it caught his two original preys in his field of vision. Shadow saw him too and slammed the door shut. He was nearly thrown forward when he used all of his weight to baricade the door, the Lurker using excessive force to try and smash the old door off its hinges.

"Silver, see if there's an open window or something, big enough for us to crawl through." Shadow told the boy as calmly as he could, despites his heart racing, and put him down on the ground.

Silver nodded, though he was too terrified to even move, and began to search for a way out. An open window shouldn't be too hard to find, right?

Wrong, none of them were open and no matter how hard he tried, none of them were willing to budge. And the constant pounding of the Lurker throwing its body at the door really didn't help.

"Daaad..." Silver whined as he tried his all to get atleast one of them open, prying on the handle with as much strength as his small body could muster.

Shadow was still holding the door closed as the creature's attempts to get inside just would not cease. To him it felt like a bull was trying to get through, even though Lurkers weren't as nearly as strong as some other types of mutated zombies. In between pounds he somehow managed to pull a chair towards him with his foot and stuck it underneath the door handle before hurrying to push a table against the door.

"Step aside and cover yours eyes." Father told his son, who jumped away and covered both of his eyes with his hands obediently, not daring to look.

Shadow stood in front of the window. He held a tight grip on the steel pipe and raised it over his shoulder to swing it towards the glass as hard as he could, shattering it. The loud noise startled Silver, but he kept his eyes covered until Shadow told him otherwise, meanwhile the older hedgehog using the pipe to rid the frame of any remaining glass.

It was then that the door decided to give in, seperating from its hinges and falling down, colliding with the table on the way down. The Lurker had fallen too, almost hissing in anger.

Knowing that time was short, Shadow picked Silver up and helped him through the window, thankful that the distance between the window sill and the ground was a short one, though Silver still couldn't help but release an audible 'oof'.

The Lurker got back on its feet and climbed over the table, clearly it wasn't as much of an obstacle as Shadow had hoped it to be. With the mutated zombie now in the room with him, Shadow wasted little time in escaping through the broken window himself, just barely evading the claws that were inches away from dragging him back inside, a small piece of cloth torn from his top.

Now that they were in the rising sunlight, they were safe.

* * *

 _So this is it! I had a few things to say, but I forgot it all! :D_

 _So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please do leave a review and tell me what you think! :3_


	5. A New Journey Begins

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!_

 _So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one._

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. Being made aware of grammatical errors is always appreciated. :)_

 _Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Chapter 4 - A New Journey Begins**

 _-Year 2038, Spring-_

Winter was gradually fading away. The cold abated and made way for more warmer weather. Snow and ice melted to allow plants and grass to grow. Animals slowly woke up from their long hibernation and returned to the forest.

Those were the things Silver paid the most attention too.

"Dad, I think I saw a squirrel! Are squirrels awake already? And I think a saw a bee!" The boy was one giant ball of energy. The excitement of winter coming to an end and turning into spring was nearly overbearing as he fired question after question and bounced around from the early flowers to the smallest speck of grass. Silver had never liked winter as it was cold and only seemed to makes things difficult for them. The whole season made him grumpy. Now that spring was back, the boy was happy again, just the way his father liked it.

"Don't wander off, Silver." He told the boy as he nearly strayed too far from the path they were on. Exploring the forest was nice and all, but he couldn't go to far.

"I won't!" Silver shouted back, just shy of chasing after a small innocent forest animal. Shadow figured this wasn't a good day for forest animals. They woke up this morning, planning on going about their day until they suddenly get chased by a much too excited hedgehog.

Shadow sighed when he saw Silver tumbling down to the ground, he was in too much of a rush. The boy didn't as much as yelp and quickly jumped back to his feet to continue his exploration. There hadn't been any forests in the Q-Zone they came from and so Shadow could understand his son's curiosity, but he just wished Silver would be a little more careful. It would make fatherhood in the apocalypse a heck of alot easier.

But, thankfully, the boy did listen and stayed on, well near, the path the two were following.

Atleast Silver was having the time of his life exploring. His father, on the other hand, was having less of a fun time. He was spending most of his time alert and trying to pick up on sounds that didn't belong in a forest, his ears often twitching at the softest of noises.

He had mixed feelings with this place. A part of him was glad to be so isolated and hard to spot, but on the other hand it made it harder for him to spot trouble aswell. The density of the forest both stressed and reliefed him. He had to admit, though, he did like the scenery.

But even so, he'd liked to find a road soon. Right now Shadow was blindly following a forest path in the hopes of coming across a town or something. The few cans he had managed to salvage a few days ago were already running out. In fact, they only had one can of food left, one they needed to share and that wasn't nearly enough for two people, weither one of them was a child or not. Shadow wanted to find the next town soon as a town could possibly mean food and food meant they didn't need to share their dinner.

Luckily his prayers were answered as he caught something grey in the corners of his eyes. He looked towards it and recognised the unmistakable grey colour and smell of asphalt. They had finally found the road he had been looking for.

"Silver, this way." Shadow alerted the boy and their feet quickly touched hard ground afterwards. Silver did look a bit dissapointed now that he couldn't play between the trees anymore. It was so different from the Quarantine Zone 'Westopolis' they had called home and all the abandoned settlements they had traversed. Silver really liked it.

In his oppinion it was a shame they had to leave it behind in favour of following a boring road that wasn't as nearly as interesting as a forest instead, but Shadow wasn't giving him a choice. The boy didn't quite understand the importance of finding a town as soon as possible yet, but that was only because they had yet to actually go hungry for longer than a day in the year and a half they've been traveling.

Shadow didn't know if it had something to do with dumb luck or if he actually got the hang of surviving while also raising his son, but either way, he was glad to have made it this far already with as little as a scratch.

Now that they had found a road, it shouldn't be hard to stumble upon the next abandoned town or city.

The only problem was, which way to go?

There were only two ways, but which one lead to the closest town? Shadow would use a map if he had any idea what this road was called. But even if he knew, the map he used to have has been lost when he had to pack up in a hurry to avoid the threat of the dead. He'd be on the lookout for one when scavenging for food later.

"Where are we going?" Silver asked, noticing his father's doubting. Left or right? Which way would bring them to civilisation and which one would provide another two or three day trip?

"To the next town, remember? I told you this morning." Shadow reminded him. Only yesterday evening had he noticed how little food there was left and this morning he had decided to leave their camp for the next abandoned piece of civilisation.

"This way!" Silver pointed in the left direction, making the choice since his father seemed to be struggling with it.

At his son's compelling pointing Shadow could only smile slightly.

"Okay, we'll go left." He agreed and walked that way.

* * *

It seemed to take an eternity before something other than more trees appeared on the horizon. They had been walking for hours already when their surroundings gradually turned from a wooded area to an open one, the view of a group of buildings huddled together dooming up way up ahead.

Shadow could already see this wouldn't be a large one. There were no skyscrapers and so far he couldn't really see any particularly important looking buildings so far. But still, the place looked promising.

It did come at a price, though. Two sore feet and legs for each and a loss of time, the sun was even already setting.

Shadow needed to find a place for them to spend the night at, somewhere safe.

"Dad? I'm hungry." Silver told him, looking up to the older hedgehog with a frown as his stomach rumbled.

"I know, but we need to find a place to stay first." Shadow responded, ignoring his own hunger gnawing at his insides. Technically speaking they could sleep anywhere with the sleeping bag the eldest of the two had attached to his backpack, but it could hardly provide the same protection four walls, a floor and a ceiling could.

So the two continued on their way.

By the time they reached the first house, nightfall was alreay upon them.

There were no lights of any kind on inside the house, so Shadow carefully opened the front door to take a peek inside. The hallway was empty and so far he couldn't hear any noises coming from inside the building, so he figured the place really was as empty as it appeared to be.

Shadow walked inside and closed the door behind the two of them before following Silver into the livingroom, the little boy immediatly jumping up on the couch with glee as he could finally rest his tired and sore feet.

Shadow left his backpack on the coffee table and welcomed the relief the lack of weight brought along and decided to explore the house. Maybe they were lucky and stumbled upon the one house that still had some food in it.

After a quick search of the kitchen, however, it became clear that they weren't that lucky. Cabinets, pantry, fridge, everything had been emptied already and a complete search of the house had proven to be fruitless aswell. There was nothing of use in this building. No matter, Shadow would just have to look for supplies downtown tomorrow.

The young father joined his son back in the livingroom and noticed the boy yawning and rubbing in his eyes. Without a doubt he was exhausted after the long way his short legs had to carry him. But he couldn't go to sleep yet.

"Silver, you have to stay awake. We're going to eat soon." Shadow told him so he could try and stay awake, but the boy only nodded and let his father wonder if he had even heard him. Not that it mattered much. He'd probably wake up to the smell later anyway.

Knowing that using the ancient stove in the kitchen would be a stupid idea, Shadow decided to use a different way of heating their one last can of food. He'd use a gas stove specifically for camping, but unfortunatly he had never gotten his hands on one, so he'd have to find a different way of heating the can up.

A small fire made outside in the backyard of some twigs and leaves was used to heat it up until Shadow deemed it ready and served it in the kitchen, dividing it in half on two plates. After a quick clean for the plates and the cutlery, he figured it'd be safe to use them.

Upon coming into the livingroom, Shadow noticed his son sleeping on the couch, still wearing his bag on his back.

"Silver, wake up. Dinner is ready." Shadow woke him up, placing his hand on his shoulder.

Silver woke up much to his dismay. He would've rather kept sleeping, but that quickly changed when he realised it was time to eat, sitting upright on the couch and rubbing in his eyes. Confident that his son would soon follow, Shadow returned back to the kitchen, soon hearing the light footsteps of the young boy following suit.

* * *

After their short evening meal was finished, SIlver went on to run back to the livingroom and possibly continue his nap. He was even dozing off during dinner, his head bobbing up and down above his plate, so it shouldn't take too long to dissapear back into dreamland.

Shadow, on the other hand, didn't immediatly return to the livingroom for a good night's rest. Instead, after taking care of their garbage, he checked the whole house a second time before walking out through the back door. He checked every inch of the backyard and afterwards the yard at the front, passing the livingroom on his way and noting that his son had already fallen back asleep, the long trip had obviously taken alot out of the boy.

Once again he looked around, patrolling the area for any nuisances. Like wild animals, hazardous objects or places, the undead or even other people, anything that could form a threat. He patrolled with a sneaky, silent walk that came natural to him after a couple of years of surviving. It was only when he was satisfied with the safety of the immediate area that he retreated to the temporary home.

He entered the house through the front door and welcomed the slightly warmer atmosphere. With Winter only just past, the air outside was still chilly in the morning and the evening. Being back inside, though the heating of the house hadn't been used in the last two decades, felt alot warmer.

Shadow blocked the front door with a nearby dresser and the back door with a chair, in case something were to try and break in while they slept, before walking into the livingroom and found his son lying exactly where he had left him, on the couch on his stomach, vast asleep. He swung his backpack over his shoulder, grabbed Silver's and picked the young hedgehog child up in his arms before he could make his way up the staircase, seeking higher ground.

The upper floor was simple enough. A bathroom, two bedrooms and a way up to the attic. But the ebony hedgehog wasn't interested in the attic, the bathroom or the second bedroom, he wanted the master bedroom.

He entered it and placed Silver down on the bed so he could go on to check the room for a third time. Better safe than sorry, right? He placed their backpacks against the wall and sat down on the bed with a huff. Out of nowhere, his own exhaustion caught up to him and he suddenly felt so tired, like he could drop down at any moment and sleep.

Shadow looked back at his son's peaceful face as he slept with his muzzle buried into the old pillow, looking like he didn't have a care in the world.

The hedgehog decided to follow Silver's example and lied down aswell, sighing as the feeling of the soft bed beneath him came as a relief to his body, his eyes closing.

This was most of their daily routine now.

Get up early in the morning, eat something, patrol the area, walk for hours on end while evading as much danger as possible, scavenge food or other important items, find shelter, eat, patrol again and go back to sleep.

Shadow didn't mind so much, it was all he had ever known and in the future, surely, Silver will think the exact same thing. They didn't know the same life as the people who lived in the world twenty-two years ago did. And, well, what you never had, you can never miss.

Still, as he slept, Shadow couldn't help but wonder what a life without needing to survive was like. His older brother had told him a thing or two when he was younger, but that didn't really help. What was he supposed to think when he was told about movies or video games or the internet? Heck, when Shadow heard of the term 'social media' he thought of a radio- or a newspaper club, people involved with the media, coming together to socialise.

He could only imagine, but come tomorrow, he'd forget about it all over again.

* * *

 _Kind of a slow chapter, but hey, this is where the story officially begins! I personally think it'll be a difficult story to keep interesting from now on as there will be alot of scavenging and traveling. But I will do my best._

 _Also I would really appreciate it if you guys made me aware of any mistakes I might've made both grammar wise and story wise._

 _So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please do leave a review and tell me what you think! :3_


	6. Scavenge

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!_

 _So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one._

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. Being made aware of grammatical errors is always appreciated. :)_

 _Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Chapter 5 - Scavenge**

 _-Year 2038, Spring-_

As soon as the earliest rays of the sun came streaming into the room, Shadow stirred from his sleep.

He sat up with a sigh and rubbed with a hand on his face, trying to wake up completely. He stretched his arms and back and let out a yawn as he stood up. His eyes moved to rest on the smaller form that had been sleeping in bed next to him.

Silver was still vast asleep, producing soft snores that only a child like him could create as he lied splayed on the bed on his front.

Deciding to let him rest for now, Shadow left the bedroom with only the clothes on his back. It was time to get on with his morning routine.

Quietly he made his way down the stairs, listening intently for any kind of sounds that didn't belong in a house. Besides the light creaking beneath his own feet, there were no other noises worth noting, so he went on to lift the baricades he had set up at the front and back entrance of the house.

When he looked through the window, he saw that the street was as empty as the day before. Usually the Dead hung around in downtown and the two of them were at the edge of town right now. At least for now, the area was safe.

Shadow returned back upstairs and approached the small sleeping form on the bed.

"Silver, it's morning, it's time to get up." He tried to rouse the hedgehoglet. Silver didn't listen at first and just continued to sleep.

"Silver, it's time to wake up." Shadow tried again, this time rubbing his small back. That seemed to do the trick as a small hand moved to rub in his eyes, the silvery hedgehog turning to lie on his back.

"Goodmorning." The hedgehog he looked up to greeted him with a slight smile. Silver didn't reply and just pouted instead. Oh, how he hated to be awoken.

"Don't feel like getting up yet?" Shadow asked, to which Silver shook his head.

"Well, tough, because we are going to make a trip into the city for food." He responded, Silver sitting up now. Where had the time he could still sleep in gone?

"I'm hungry." The young hedgehog stated.

"I know, we'll be able to grab a quick snack before we leave." Shadow reassured him and got up from the bed, planning on leaving the bedroom with their backpacks in tow. Silver reluctantly followed his father, who was waiting for him at the top of the stairs. With one fist still rubbing in his eyes, the hoglet took his father's hand and the two walked down the stairs together.

The two made their way into the kitchen and Silver climbed up on the chair. Shadow placed their bags on the opposing chair and dug around in his son's, hoping to still find something to eat. He often put extra food in the youngsters backpack should Silver ever have a need for it. For example when Shadow had to leave the boy in a place he deemed save enough while he himself went to check out a little more of a less safe place, or when they were out of food like today and Shadow didn't want him to start this day on an empty stomach.

"Here, this is all we have left. Eat it and afterwards we can go and search for more food in town." The hedgehog told his boy as he handed him a small piece of bread wrapped in plastic. It was dry and barely made for a nice, fulfilling breakfast, but at least it wasn't moldy.

Silver took the bread that could barely fit in both of his hands and immediatly took a bite, eager to satiate his hunger. Shadow meanwhile took to sitting on the chair next to boy and waited. He didn't need to wait for long a Silver tore into the bread like a lion would tear into a gazelle.

That piece of bread seemed to lighten up his mood at least.

"Ready to head out?" Shadow asked the boy, who nodded eagerly. Heading out meant more food for later.

As Shadow got up from the chair, Silver jumped up from his and followed the darker hedgehog out the kitchen with backpack in hand and into the hallway leading up to the front door.

"Are you warm enough?" Shadow asked as he went to his knees in front of his son pulling his jacket closer and making sure it was zipped up all the way to the top before checking the laces of his shoes.

"Uh-hu!" Silver nodded, rubbing in his eye one last time. Shadow handed him his small backpack, which he pulled on, before getting back to his feet again.

"Are you ready?" The ebony one asked Silver once more. This will most likely be another day of walking and scavenging again. The hoglet nodded, smiling. Of course he was ready. He was ready for anything!

Shadow smiled down at the enthousiasm of the boy and so the two set off, leaving their temporary home for now. Shadow had no clear destination in mind. All he wanted was to find the shopping district. They often still had buildings with stuff they could use. For that they should find the district first. And that alone will take a while.

In the chilly morning air the two hedgehogs walked down the street, one listening to the other rambling on about all that he saw. Silver had never been the one to stay quiet for long. Shadow didn't mind as they were fairly alone now, minus the occasional bird or other small animals scurrying around. No need to hold back. Besides, it seemed to make the trip shorter.

As they passed more houses, more streets and came closer to the center of the town, a few buildings at their right caught Shadow's attention. Silver quieted down as he followed his dad when he changed direction and noticed the same buildings. Clothing stores began to appear left and right, but it was when they came across a bakery with a broken window that their attention was drawn.

"Is there food in there?" Silver asked as he eyed up the store. Shadow looked at the same store. He would've thought the same thing if the place hadn't clearly been broken into. There wasn't a whole lot to be found in a small independent shops like this one. They never really lasted long, especially not with how people plunder nearly every building they came across.

As much as Silver insisted that they take a look inside, Shadow did not relent and continued on. Even if they were lucky enough to find something in there, twenty-two year old stale bread wouldn't exactly be wise to eat. Only packaged food could still prove to be edible, even if they were way over date.

So they continued on, searching for a place that could prove to be useful to them. It wasn't until they came across a small supermarket that Shadow decided to take his chances and look inside.

The hedgehog looked in through the front window with his hands up to block out what little sunlight the grey clouds allowed to pass through in order to look inside and see if there was something to be worried for. It seemed empty so far, no unwanted presence that could complicate things.

Shadow checked the front door first. It opened as expected and so he entered. The first few rows were empty, but traveling further into the store proved to be useful as he found a few cans of food worth taking along. Even Silver came running back with a can, which he sourly discovered to be a can of soup as a slight smirk from his father made the boy want to read the label. He had just seen it was can and came running with it.

There was moldy and rotten food everywhere, but at least there was still some they could take along with them. Once more Shadow praised his lucky stars that they found some food almost immediatly after they had run out. In the year they've been on the road they've barely had to go hungry, Shadow hoped their lucky streak would continue for a long time to come.

Deciding that there wasn't anything more of use to them in here, Shadow decided that it was time for them to return to the house they temporarily occupied. They've been on the road for several days now. Whenever they reached a new city or town, they'd find a suitable place to stay at for a little while. For Silver's sake, the two used the abandoned family home to recuperate some strength for the next day or two.

Knowing the way back, their return to the house was alot shorter and the two could drop their bags in the livingroom again. Well, Silver dropped his bag with a huff while his father continued on to the kitchen and placed his backpack on the table before emptying it of its contents, silently taking stock of all they had found today.

Four cans of beans, a can of tomato soup and a can of pumpkin soup, a can of corn and a can with tuna fish, all of which could still be eaten. That's what his brother had taught him, anyway.

"If it still smells decent, it's probably still worth eating. Probably." Were his exact words.

Either way, this meant food for at least eight more days if they were to share each can. Looks like their two day respite will be kept at one.

"What're we eating?" Silver asked as he came walking into the kitchen, climbing onto a chair to take a look at the cans himself.

"How does pumpkin soup sound?" The ebony hedgehog asked as he looked dow on the youth and watched as a grimace formed on his face and his tongue poked out, clearly showing his distaste for the thick liquid.

"Tomato soup?" The silvery hoglet feverishly shook his head. Shadow couldn't keep a chuckle from escaping.

"Than what do you propose we eat?" He asked. Silver took the can with the most colourful, and most yellow, design and showed it to him.

"Hmpf, corn it is than." Shadow agreed with a smile.

* * *

With scavenging over and done with and nothing else to fill their afternoon with, Shadow found it to be his job to try and find something to keep his son busy with.

He was exploring the upper floor of the house when he came upon the second bedroom, one smaller than the one they had been staying in for the night. The way the room was decorated, the size of the bed and all the toys that littered the ground told the hedgehog that this was once a child's room. A girl's room, to be precise, judging by the pink wallpaper.

Silver's room had never been decorated like this. His room had a bland white wall instead of a colourful wallpaper with all sorts of figures and cartoons printed on it. He had an adult sized bed that often gave Shadow the scare of his life whenever he heard a heavy thump coming from the boy's room. He would come running, expecting to see his child crying on the floor after he fell out of the bed, only to see the silvery boy sitting up sheepishly on the covers as he had been caught playing well past bed-time.

Shadow had to admit the bed had been a little too high for a boy his age. He would've easily gotten a concussion if Silver would've fallen out. Fortunatly Silver proved to be quite a peaceful sleeper and didn't toss and turn all that much in his sleep.

Besides the bed there had been a little table to serve as a nightstand after it had been moved there from the livingroom and a wardrobe Silver always hid in during hide 'n' seek or when he attempted to avoid being put to bed. There was a desk the two used to make puzzles on. There was also a chest similar to the one present in this little girl's bedroom where Silver's few toys were kept in and a colourfully decorated nightlight for on the nightstand.

It hadn't been an ordinary nightlight. This one was a special one. It had come with a lampshade with several holes in the form of figures cut into it. If it were put on with the lamp turned on, the whole room would be filled with those figures. Horses, flowers, dogs, cats, food, balloons, swords and a dragon were just a few of the bunch of figures littering the lampshade.

Shadow chuckled somberly as he remembered making up stories for each figure or weaving together one long tale that involved a large part of the figures. His imagination wasn't the greatest, but Silver could always listen to his father for hours.

Shadow missed that.

In the corner of his eyes, he noticed a similar nightlight on the bedside table. For a moment he was tempted to switch it on and he relented, but, of course, there was no power.

Shadow sighed and went back to his original objective of trying to find something to do. However, he soon found himself interrupted when he heard a long "Daaad?" coming from downstairs. The tone in which it was said made Shadow climb down the stairs with a faster pace and he found Silver looking out through the window on the street. His hands held onto the window sill as he stood on the tips of his toes. He could only just look outside.

Shadow quickly joined him at the window and slightly moved the white curtains aside to look out through the window to see what the fuss was all about.

And what did he see? Humans, two of them, and they were both armed.

"Dad?" Silver called Shadow's attention as he looked up to the older hedgehog. He wanted to know what was going to happen now.

A trained eye would've noticed his jawline tensing as his teeth clenched on eachother and his eyes narrowed.

Something else that came with his barely acceptable social skills came a general distrust for strangers and he certainly wouldn't trust anyone with a gun, though he carried one around himself.

"Grab your bag." Shadow said as he left for the kitchen to retrieve his own. Silver listened to his father and threw his bag on his back and followed him to the other room.

Silver had never understood why his father insisted on avoiding the living as much as the dead, but he didn't think to question it too much. Those two humans didn't look exactly friendly either.

"Are we leaving?" Silver asked, somewhat dissapointed. He would've liked to stay here for a little while longer.

"Don't worry, we'll find a new place soon." Shadow reassured his son, briefly ruffling his quills in comfort before leaving for the livingroom with his backpack swung on his back. He looked through the window and noticed that the pair of humans only just came walking by the house.

They didn't wear backpacks on their backs or anything else to carry rescources in and they looked like they came from downtown. This lead Shadow to draw the conclusion that they had a camp here somewhere. Probably not somewhere near them, or they would've come across a few other survivors by now. They hadn't really been all that far into the center of town either. As soon as they found those cans they returned back here.

But more importantly, a camp meant new resources, a camp meant food.

Shadow had to shake the thought of more food out of his head. A whole camp of survivors outside of a Quarantine Zone rarely meant good news. Especially to two loners like a certain father and son.

These groups were often close to eachother and they did not appreciate strangers. Especially not when they so happened to be wandering into their turf.

One thing did worry the ebony hedgehog.

Did they know of him and Silver?

* * *

 _And that means the end of another chapter! I'm so sorry this one took so long, but I was actually a little stumped on how to continue the story. I didn't want to make the story too boring by letting it drag on, but I also didn't want it to go to fast. But now I know how to continue it and so here is the next chapter!_

 _Also I would really appreciate it if you guys made me aware of any mistakes I might've made both grammar wise and story wise._

 _So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please do leave a review and tell me what you think! :3_


	7. Trouble Ahead

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!_

 _So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one._

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. Being made aware of grammatical errors is always appreciated. :)_

 _Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Chapter 6 - Trouble Ahead**

 _-Year 2038, Spring-_

One thing did worry the ebony hedgehog.

Did they know of him and Silver?

Thinking that this town was devoid of living inhabitents, the hedgehog had made a fire to try and heat their dinner up the night before. These people could've easily spotted the smoke and send these two out to investigate.

Silently Shadow cursed his foolish mistake. If those two really were trying to find the origin of the smoke from the yesterday evening, they could very well start searching houses too.

And than there was still the issue if these two humans were the only ones investigating the area. This town was pretty large in size from what he had been able to tell from their trip to the supermarket. You can't leave the searching of such a considerably sized area to just two people.

After one last look at the duo of humans, Shadow walked to the back of the house and checked to see if there was any sign of human or mobian activity at the back before he dared to set a foot outside.

He didn't want to test his luck any longer. Yesterday night he had chosen to stay in the first house they came across out of convenience for both him and Silver. If you were to search a place for anything suspicious, what better location to start in than the houses that quite literally stood on the border?

The backyard had the typical wooden fence that surrounded the grass and Shadow had to jump and grab hold of the edge to hoist himself up in order to see what was beyond the fence at the very back, a foot trying to seek solace on the flat surface. All he could see was the back of another house. These houses were situated all around this town to, quite literally, act like some sort of border.

He let himself drop back down and checked the sides next. One side lead to the clearing they came from the day before and the other side lead to a small clearing between this house and the next. Obviously Shadow wasn't planning on backtracking, so only two of these choices was the right one.

He choose to go with the side.

"Silver," Shadow addressed the boy as he picked him up and approached the fence on the side. Getting him over would require alot less time than trying to pry any of those boards loose at the bottom with a tool he did not possess. Not to mention it could give the possible threats a clue as to where they escaped to.

"I'm going to put you on my shoulders so you can reach the fence, okay? I want you to climb over it, lower yourself and drop down. It won't hurt a bit." Shadow told his son and followed up on his words by making the boy stand on his shoulders. The fence came up to the boy's pelvis now.

Silver looked down at his father in concern as he tried to keep his balance, Shadow still holding onto him, but said not a word as he reluctantly followed the order and climbed over the fence, but he didn't lower himself.

As a five year old, the way down was a long one. To Silver even his father was a tall man, though he was actually quite a bit on the short side compared to the average mobian hedgehog. The boy had second thoughts about getting back down.

"Dad?"

"Lower yourself and drop down, Silver. It won't hurt a bit." Shadow repeated as he looked the boy in the eye. His voice and expression were calm, but in truth his heart was beating up a storm in his chest. If he was right about the pair soon resorting to searching the houses, then it would only be a matter of time before they got here.

But, of course, he couldn't let Silver know of the nerve-wracking feeling of being caught anytime now. The boy depended on him to be the one to stay calm and know what was supposed to happen next.

The young hedgehog took his father up on his words and lowered himself down, small hands holding onto the top of the fence.

It was then that Shadow's ears picked up on a door opening to his left and he knew his prediction had come true.

"Hey, who the hell are you?!" A voice shouted and the hedgehog's head snapped around to look at the human that came walking out of the house, his partner following right behind him.

Startled at the humans' sudden arrival, Silver's grip slipped and he fell down to the grassy ground with a yelp.

Shadow wasted no time in pulling his backpack off and throwing it over, knowing that the weight would only slow him down. Once more he jumped up to grab hold of the top of the wooden boards and pull himself up just as he heard the sound of either one of those two pulling a weapon out of its holster.

"Don't let him escape!" The first human spoke again as he ran forward to grab hold of the dark hedgehog, but it was too late as Shadow let himself fall on the other side in his hurry to get over, nearly hitting Silver in the process if he hadn't moved out of the way.

"We have two intruders, two mobians. We should warn the others." Much to Shadow's dismay he heard that they had noticed his son too as he grabbed his bag from the ground and threw it on his back again before making a run for it, though at a pace that allowed Silver to keep up as they held hands.

The silvery boy wanted to ask what they were going to do now, but he knew better than to speak in situations such as this. His father had often lectured him about keeping quiet in dangerous situations and he could easily see that this was one of them.

They traversed the small clearing with the humans taking the longer, and far easier, route by leaving through the front of the house, but by the time the two reached the back, Shadow had already pulled Silver along to hide behind the side of the next house.

The hedgehog sneaked a peek around the corner to see the two humans still near the house, except they were being approached by a different pair, a man and a woman this time.

Just like he had thought, those two men hadn't come alone.

Shadow checked if the road was clear at the front before braving his way on the sidewalk and heading off into the direction of the center of town. He had no intention of even as much as catch a glimpse of their camp, but he couldn't just leave this place just yet.

There was stuff he needed that were essential to their journey and he might just find it around here.

* * *

Shadow had to admit that they had been lucky. Whoever the leader of their camp was, they hadn't send out more of their members yet. Either it was because they weren't with many to begin with or news of actual intruders in their territory hadn't reached them yet.

Either way, there weren't any people around for now and Shadow wanted to make use of that.

It has already been quite a while since their run in with the two humans. The duo of hedgehogs were approaching the center of town again. They had taken the same route as before, except Shadow kept his eyes and ears extra peeled as they walked, ears twitching and his gaze moving from place to place as he tried to pick up on any sign of recent human activity. Silver felt more comfortable now, but he had yet to say a word.

Shadow didn't like not knowing where the camp was situated. Cutting straight through town to find a few more necessary items and to save up on time they'd waste if they went the long way around was fine and dandy, but how was he supposed to avoid something he didn't know the location of?

It did little to help the sense of paranoia he was experiencing.

And than there was still the matter of how little sign of humans they came across. It was too quiet and too empty to Shadow's liking. He also couldn't help but notice that they'd hadn't come across a single Runner or Wanderer, something he foolishly hadn't paid all that much attention to before. They must've really been keeping the place clean. That further made the older hedgehog wonder just why he hadn't suspected this town to be inhabited yet.

Neither one of these things helped his current state of mind in the slightest.

He was almost reliefed when he heard a pair of unfamiliar voices conversing in the distance.

The two hedgehogs hid behind a dumpster as they watched a pair of humans come into view. There weren't only two of them this time as another three of them joined.

News of the two trespassers must've reached their camp after all.

If Shadow wasn't careful, this could very well turn into a manhunt. That was something both of them could miss.

Looking up to his father, Silver hoped his old man knew what to do, but the darker hedgehog was already ahead of him, gently pushing the boy along to get him to move, they sneaked to the back of the building they were besides. The alley was a dead-end, but there was a door Shadow managed to open with only a slight creak so the two could make their way inside.

It was only now that Silver dared to speak.

"What're we gonna do?" He whispered as he followed after his father through what seemed to be a kitchen before finding himself in a room with several tables and chairs, who had quite the grip on his tiny hand.

Shadow only responded by holding a finger up to his lips as he looked at him with a stern look and Silver knew to be quiet.

Noticing that the only way out was through the front door, Shadow looked at the windows next.

This was a restaurant and they had entered the place through the back door in the kitchen. The windows in this joint looked out at the front where the group of survivors were as a view of the alleyway and its dumpster wouldn't exactly be a nice sight to look at while one was eating.

Not only could they not provide him with an escape, but they were also quite big. In an attempt to stay hidden, Shadow had to crouch past as he made his way to the staircase. Thankfully, this was a restaurant with two floors.

"We're going to make our way through town to see if we can get our hands on something like clothes for Spring or a map." Shadow decided to reply to his son's question in a whisper, feeling a bit more comfortable doing so now that they were a floor higher.

Silver replied with a soft 'Oh!' as he began to look around, expecting to see either one of those items right here in this very room.

Shadow made his way over to the window and watched the human group from above as they passed by with their guns casually in hand. It didn't look like they were actually expecting to encounter the intruders.

The hedgehog watched them walk by for a little while before he resumed his search of an escape and that brought his attention to the fire escape he noticed on the side of the building, tucked away into a corner.

But as he pushed the heavy door open and looked outside, it looked like a part of the stairs were missing, gone from either being used for parts or by negligence.

Shadow carefully made his way down the steps, testing each to make sure they wouldn't give in beneath his weight and make him meet with a pretty painful landing, while Silver waited at the very top and watched.

Unfortunatly enough, Shadow only got five steps far before number six moved out of place when he attempted to put his weight on it and made this awful screeching noise that made both father and son cover their ears.

It was loud and obnoxious. Surely those humans had heard it too.

With a new sense of hurry, Shadow grabbed SIlver and made his way for step number nine, this time avoiding the sixth one.

There was still a three meter drop as the staircase ended there, but it would be nothing Shadow couldn't survive.

So he dropped down with his son in his arm, landing on his feet only for his knees to buckle and nearly landing on his front. A hand that shot forward to prevent that from happening out of reflex allowed some support as the hedgehog couldn't help but cringe. The drop hadn't exactly felt good for his ankles.

Hearing the humans approach, Shadow put Silver down on his feet and ignored the stabbing pain that would surely fade away with time as he approached the next door and walked inside.

The door clicked back in place just as the group rounded the corner to see where the noise had come from.

Now the two hedgehogs found themselves in a short hallway. Following it to the end soon proved to them that they were now in an apartment as they found mailboxes littering one side of the small hall while there was a counter of sorts on the other side.

The darker one of the two paid little attention to that as he sneaked a peek at the front to see that the humans had dissapeared into the alleyway to investigate the loud sound they heard.

Figuring that they'd try to continue their search by entering the only way their targets could've escaped through, Shadow believed it to be safer to leave the building through the front and walked down the sidewalk with Silver right on his heels.

Crimson eyes scanned the area for their next escape as they couldn't stay in the open like this for long while ears tried to pick up on sounds that weren't made by them or animals.

When his eyes caught something on his right was when he stopped and turned.

Looking up in another alleyway, Shadow noticed that two apartment buildings were connected by a wide wooden plank that went from one window to the next.

Believing he may have found an easy way out of this block, he and Silver entered the apartment building and ascended the stairs until they reached the third floor. After a quick search of the rooms, they found the window with the plank.

The plank seemed to be hammered in place as several screws kept it stuck to window sill. The older hedgehog tested it for movement and had to conclude that it must be safe, though his younger companion wasn't so sure of that.

"Dad?" Silver asked when his father placed him on the board.

"Walk across and don't look down. I'll be right behind you." Shadow reassured him. The boy was a bit reluctant, but he did inch forward a little. It wasn't until Shadow climbed up on the board himself that he dared to walk.

Strict orders not to look down barely helped as Silver's gaze couldn't help but fall on the ground way down below. The boy held his breath as he froze up, eyes squeezing closed, as if not being able to see it would suddenly make it go away.

"Silver." Shadow called his son's name as he placed a hand on his upper back, startling him. Silver looked up to his father and noticed the young man lending him a hand. Silver quickly took it and felt a little more confident about crossing to the other side.

They got only halfway when trouble found them again.

"Up there!"

Shadow looked down and could only duck just in time to avoid getting shot as he saw a gun pointed directly at him. Silver cried out in shock at the noise.

Not wasting any time, the hedgehog grabbed the younger one and ran for the window, swiftly making his way into the next apartment building. Faintly he could hear one of the men ordering the others to follow the two as he left the bedroom they had entered.

Now they needed to find a new way out, but running down the stairs proved to be fruitless as they had been blocked up by furniture, the lifeless and rotten bodies of the Dead lying behind it told a tale of why the barricades and the plank from one building to the next came to be.

Shadow searched the rooms of the only floor available to them. It wasn't until they came upon one with a giant hole in the wall that they found the route again.

"Dad!" Silver called for his father to alert him of the voices and footsteps he heard approaching. Shadow acted quick by shutting the door and pushing a dresser against it to keep it shut, but it was a feeble-looking thing and obviously wouldn't put up much of a fight. All it could do was provide them with some time.

The two looked towards the hole next and saw another plank leading to a corner of the next apartment where also a large hole resided, the corner in that room completely gone with another plank leading to a rooftop.

Shadow figured that this path probably lead straight to the human camp he wanted to avoid, but it was also their only way out. So with Silver on his tail, he walked down the wooden boards, one more sturdier than the other, with a comforting hold on his son's hand. They made it to the rooftop just as they faintly heard the dresser give in to the force their hunters used to break through.

In a hurry the two ran to the other side of the rooftop, knowing they'd be spotted soon. The glimpse of a ladder placed there gave them a new way down. Shadow was the first to start climbing and urged Silver to follow, making sure he was right below him in case the boy's grip were to slip. But Silver needed no encouragement as he quickly followed just as they were being shouted at and ordered to stop. Warning shots were fired, but the two hedgehogs were already down.

Just to make sure they wouldn't be followed, Shadow pushed the ladder out of the way, severing the only path their chasers could follow before grabbing Silver's hand again and escaping into a nearby alley to dissapear out of sight.

Once more they had escaped.

* * *

 _Yes, Shadow is a shorty in this fic! Just like canon Shadz was a bit on the short side (how can those hovershoes have such thick soles and still make him as tall as Sonic?), so is Apocalypse Shadz!_

 _Also I would really appreciate it if you guys made me aware of any mistakes I might've made both grammar wise and story wise._

 _So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please do leave a review and tell me what you think! :3_


	8. A New Destination

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!_

 _So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one._

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. Being made aware of grammatical errors is always appreciated. :)_

 _Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Chapter 7 - A New Destination**

 _-Year 2038, Spring-_

"Are you sure you're not hurt?" The ebony hedgehog asked as he looked the four year old over, checking for any cuts or bruises.

"I'm okay." Silver responded before taking a big gulp from his water flask. Just like the extra bits of food, he had his very own flask for water too.

"That's good to hear." Shadow said in relief as he pulled Silver's parka closer again to zip it all the way up to his chin after making sure his scarf was still tightly wrapped around his neck.

"Are those people going to find us here?" Silver asked as he looked around, water flask still tightly in his grip.

"No, they won't. We're safe here." Shadow reassured him, though he wasn't exactly so confident about that himself.

The two were hidden in a little shop. It was one for women's clothing only, but the backroom was comfortably furnitured and it wasn't visible to any that may pass on the street outside. It seemed safe enough for at least a breather.

Shadow moved to plop down on one of the armchairs available in the room and leant back, savouring the feeling of not having to carry that blasted thing he called his backpack.

Well, it wasn't exactly his.

After escaping from the Q Zone, he could hardly go back and possibly endanger his life just to search for a backpack that didn't contain anything of value.

Well, nothing of value except for a photograph cherished.

"Dad?" The dark hedgehog was snapped out of his thoughts by his son's voice as he stood before him, water flask no longer in hand, but presumably stuffed back into his bag.

"Yes?" He simply responded, telling the boy he had his full attention.

"When we were outside I saw a store like this one, but it wasn't for girls. You said we needed clothes so..." The boy was interrupted when the five quills on top of his head were suddenly ruffled.

"That was some excellent spotting, I hadn't noticed a store like that." Well, mostly because he was in such a hurry to get inside the building. It was good at least one of them was paying attenion to their surroundings.

That was what Shadow hated about traveling alone. With two, you know you had someone with you to back you up in some form.

"We'll take a look at it later, but for now we'll eat and rest our legs a little." He said and immediatly noticed a big grin appear on Silver's face upon hearing the words 'now' and 'eat' in the same sentence.

The floor of the backroom had no carpet and wasn't made out of wood, it were just tiles. Keep anything remotely flammable out of the way and you had a nifty spot to make a small campfire and cook dinner on. And just to make sure the room wouldn't fill up with smoke, the doors to the basement, storage and store were left open to give the smoke a way to go.

Their can of corn was soon ready, the fire put out and the food divided so the two could eat.

With the last remaining daylight dissapearing fast, they rolled out their sleeping bags next to eachother and settled down for the night, utterly exhausted from the events of today.

Silver fled to dreamland quickly while snuggled cozily in his sleeping bag as Shadow kept tabs on him, making sure the boy would be fast asleep by the time he could lay his head down and sleep.

The silvery boy snored softly and Shadow did a quick check-up in the building and sneaked a peek outside to make sure no one was patrolling the area before he felt safe enough to try and close his eyes to follow his son into slumberland.

* * *

The morning came and so did the time to pack up and leave.

Like every morning Shadow did a quick scan of the area before returning to his son and his trusty backpack.

The only difference? Today there wouldn't be breakfast.

"I'm hungry." SIlver complained as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned while Shadow wrapped his scarf around his neck warmly before zipping his parka all the way up and checking his shoelaces.

"I know." Shadow simply responded, not knowing what else to say. He was hungry too, but they couldn't waste their one meal for today. Perhaps when they continue their journey will they find more resources to use.

Now that the two were ready for another day they made their way towards the front door and Shadow took another peek outside before braving his way out through the entrance.

Just like usual the air was chilly and it was grey out aswell as a bit foggy because of the early hours. The street was littered with garbage, but at least it was devoid of human life. With ease the two mobians could go about their way.

Silver pointed at the store he had spotted the day before and practically dragged his father over there, the older one allowing it this time. Shadow held his hands against the window just above his eyes to shield them from what light the grey clouds allowed and looked inside, Silver mimicking his gestures. In the back Shadow could spot the children's section, a section not many of these specialised stores possessed, and entered.

As he stood in front of the wide range of choices, he looked down at Silver.

"See anything you like?" He asked, knowing that this had never been one of Silver's favourite activities. It always took much too long and clothes weren't exactly interesting. It was similar to his dislike for soup, but it had to be done. Silver was a growing boy. So unlike his father, he needed a change of clothes from time to time, more often than the other.

The four year old just stared up at his father with a pout and his arms crossed, knowing this would take a while.

Two t-shirts, a jeans and a hoodie later, Shadow could finally cram them in his bag. His change of clothing merely existed out of trading his winter jacket for a more thinner one, one that was even blacker than his own fur and would help greatly in blending in with the darkness. It also held great meaning for him as it had been the clothing article Silver had been wrapped in for most of his life. It had taken until the boy was two and a half and went to school before Shadow could take his jacket back.

The thing had been folded neatly along with his own second pair of clothing on the bottom of his backpack. His winter jacket, which had been a dark shade of beige in colour, was left to hang in the store to be used by the next passerby who might find solace in its warmth. He'd find a new one by the time next Winter came along.

After checking the street once more, Shadow and Silver left the store and walked down the sidewalk. They had already reached the center of the town. Now all that was left was to find their way to the other side, find a road and head for the next town or city, preferably one that wasn't inhabited by people who immediatly resorted to violence.

* * *

In order to get to the other side of town, Shadow and Silver had to make their way through the center of town. It had been a little over an hour now, but they still had yet to leave the center. As much as Shadow had tried to avoid getting near the humans' camp, he found himself sneaking at the edge of it.

The camp was large and obviously inhabited by many. Men, women, Shadow even spotted a few children, but not a single mobian around. He figured it was best to take that as bad news and even more reason to stay away from them.

Fortunatly the two managed to stay out of sight as they sneaked past and entered another building, a pretty large one. They made their way up the stairs to the second floor and finally felt safe again.

Silver let out a deep sigh, as if he had been holding his breath for a long time.

"Those were alot of humans." The boy stated as he jumped up on a chair. Shadow followed his example and leant against a table. It was about time they took a little break.

"Yes, but we don't have to deal with them. So long as we stay out of sight, we'll be fine." The hedgehog responded, grabbing for the water flask stuffed in a side pocket of his backpack.

The two had found solace in what seemed to be library. That's what the many bookcases filled with books told them, all of them unread for the past two decades. Shadow was tempted to open one of them up and get completely lost in reading, one of his favourite ways to pass time, but they had to continue on.

Thankfully, Silver provided some distraction.

"Why are those humans bad? Samuels wasn't bad." Silver responded, legs kicking as they hung from the chair.

Shadow looked at the hoglet as he tried to come up with an explanation that would make sense to his young mind.

"They're not bad, Silver, they just have their own way of surviving. Our way of surviving is scavenging and moving forward. Theirs is settling down and defending their home." He explained, hoping his son would understand.

Silver visibly thought about it for a moment or two before responding when another thought popped into mind.

"Do we have a home?" He asked, once more looking up to the older hedgehog.

Well, technically no, but he didn't want to upset the boy.

"Well, no, but alot of people believe in the saying 'The home is where the heart is'." Shadow told him, hoping that wouldn't upset him too much.

Silver looked up to his father as he tried to understand what he had been told. Then he placed a hand on his chest while he thought before climbing up on the table next to the ebony one and pressing an ear against his chest. Shadow had to wrap his arms around him to make sure he wouldn't fall off the table.

A little while later, he looked up to his old man again and smiled.

"We're home!" He exclaimed, a bright smile on his muzzle.

Shadow couldn't help but stare at the young boy in surprise, but soon enough a smile appeared on his face. That wasn't exactly the meaning of that particular saying, but it was close enough.

"Yes, I suppose we are." He replied and moved to sit on the table before pulling the silvery hedgehog up to sit on his lap.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Silver asked in a whisper.

"We are going to continue our journey." Shadow responded, equally silent.

As soon as their break was over, the pair made their way to the closest exit of the library, but they only got to the first floor when they heard footsteps accompanied by voices coming from somewhere close.

"You heard the news?"

Shadow ducked and Silver automatically followed his example, crawling closer to his father. The darker one sneaked a peek from over the desk they were hiding behind and saw two humans walk down the stairs they had descended from.

Now this was a large building, but Shadow knew he and Silver had been alone on the second floor. This only left him to conclude that they came from the attic of this place.

"Of those two mobians? Yeah, this really sucks. I heard they were hedgehogs this time."

This time? This drew Shadow's attention as his ears perked, trying to listen for anymore information.

"You mean those four cats?" The first human asked his friend.

"Three, but yeah, I was talking about them. They just came waltzing into our town one moment and the next they're gone. Kinda like those hedgehogs from yesterday." The other one responded.

"Yeah, if that isn't a sign Mark needs to work on our patrols than I don't know what is. He made me run all over the place to search for pencils and erasers to sketch a new route on the map, but that was already a week ago. I have yet to see him even enter the library." The first one spoke again, clearly aggravated.

The two dissapeared out of sight and out of earshot as they left through the front entrance, but Shadow didn't care, he had all the information he needed.

Silver wanted to ask what he was going to do, but knew he couldn't speak up anymore. So all that was left for him was too simply follow his father.

Shadow lead them back to the second floor and scanned the room, soon spotting a door to the attic between two bookcases.

Now that he knew where he needed to go next, he brought Silver over to the counter and walked behind it. The counter was straight and there were two ways to go, but at least it was a place Silver could hide behind.

"Dad?" The boy asked when they stopped.

Shadow went to his knees to look the silvery hedgehog in the eye and make him know that he had to listen closely now.

"Silver, dad is going up the stairs to search for a map. While I'm up there, I want you to hide under here and not come out no matter what. Only leave when you believe yourself to be in danger. Can you promise me that?" He asked. He wanted to hear his boy promise it.

"I promise." Silver said, frowning. He did not like this at all.

Shadow smiled as he heard those words and to reassure his son. He urged Silver to duck and crawl underneath the counter and gestured at him to stay put, claiming that he won't take long.

Shadow didn't like leaving his son behind, but he just had to check the attic out.

He checked the door leading up to the last floor and discovered, to his relief, that it was unlocked. He managed to open it with only a slight creak and sneaked his way up the worn wooden stairs silently.

As he came upon the attic, he noticed that a part of the roof was gone. In same places the floor was caving in because of neglect and weight of rain from a couple of days ago. But besides that there wasn't all that much different from any other attic in any other building.

Like any other attic, it was filled with all sorts of other junk, but Shadow was only interested in the desk that stood in the middle of it all. He made sure that no humans were around before braving his way up the rest of the steps and approaching the piece of furniture.

A wave of relief washed over him as he noticed a whole stack of maps on top of its surface. He began to search through them, accidentally knocking a few things off in his hurry to find what he had been looking for.

Soon something caught his attention in the corner's of his eyes.

It was a big black circle drawn in marker. The words written above it? Knothole Quarantine Zone.

"A Quarantine Zone... There's another Quarantine Zone?" Shadow stated out loud in his surprise as he took that map and quickly began to search for the town he was currently in. Thankfully, the humans had done him the favour of marking that one too. This would've otherwise been a little difficult since this was a foldable map.

Shadow felt his excitement grow as he mapped out the route they had to follow. It would take a couple of months since they had no other choice but to get there on foot, but he was so certain they could make it. His and Rouge's journey had taken two years before they found the Q-Zone Silver was born near.

He got so engrossed in determining the route that he did not notice the creaking of footsteps sneaking up the stairs, silently creeping towards him from behind, sporting a long, thin piece of wood in a tight grip.

Shadow didn't notice a thing until it was already too late and a tall figure loomed over him.

With a shout he felt how the wood made contact with his temple, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

"Got you, you little prick!"

Shadow groaned as he held onto the desk while his other hand moved up to the side of his head.

"What the hell..." He muttered as he tried to get back up on his feet, but the human didn't let him.

A firm kick to his lower back send him tumbling to the ground again and Shadow had nothing to hold himself onto, so he met a hard landing with the floor.

"Where is your partner? Don't bother lying, I saw him myself!" Shadow managed to look over his shoulder at the human and recognised him as one of the two who had busted him while trying to climb over the fence, the one who immediatly reached for his holster.

"There is no o-" He only managed to say before a kick to the gut knocked the air out of him.

"Liar!" The human accused him, his temper flaring. With an unpolished bat raised over his head, he made another strike, knocking the gun out of Shadow's hand just as he drew it from his belt.

Shadow internally cursed as he tried to back away. That hit to the head had made him dizzy and it was hard to coordinate. The human had the advantage over him and he made use of that.

The hedgehog could only just lift his right arm up to deflect a hit from the piece of wood, a crunching noise was just barely audible over the sound of the impact the wood made with his arm.

"Damn!" Was all Shadow could shout as pain flared up in his right forearm near his wrist, but the man wasn't done with him yet and he was quickly reaching his boiling point.

"Fine, if you won't tell me, than I'll force it out of you." With a harsh grip on his collar, Shadow was being dragged towards one of the small pools of water in the room. With a wounded arm and a pounding head that barely allowed him to see straight made it difficult for him to show any resistance.

Before he could realise where he was dragged towards, his quills were grabbed and he suddenly found his head submerged in one of the deeper pools in the room.

Shadow's struggling picked up as he could no longer breath. The only substance entering his lungs was water as panic made him gasp for air where there was none.

"Now answer me!" The enraged man shouted as he pulled the oxygen-deprived hedgehog's face out of the water and allowed him to cough up some of the liquid.

"Screw... You..." Shadow wasn't planning on selling his own son out, but his answer wasn't appreciated as he was submerged again, his jacket, shirt, arms and a large portion of his torso getting soaking wet.

"Tell me! There were two of you! I saw him with my own eyes!" This time the human held him under longer, not at all caring that the hedgehog broke out in full-blown panic as his air supply was once again cut off.

His short claws clawed at the man's hands, though he barely even let the stinging pain of quills get to him. His feet kicked, trying to find some leverage that could be his salvation. But the man on top was stronger and bigger than him and didn't allow him to breath, barely allowed him to move.

It was only when his body was quickly growing limp and panic faded from his mind when darkness was threatening to set in that he suddenly knew what to do.

Shadow reached for a handmade shiv hidden in his jacket and plunged it deep into the man's side, just bellow his ribcage.

A scream left the human as he reached for the small blade and backed away from the mobian, giving him the chance to resurface and cough all of the water stuck in his lungs out and finally breath again. But a rush of adrenaline didn't allow him to recover as he grabbed for his gun, aimed and shot five times, two bullets hitting the man in the chest and one in the head.

He fell over and expired on the spot.

Shadow's arm shook as he still held his gun in the air. For a moment he simply stared at the lifeless body before realisation kicked in and he let himself drop down to the ground.

He was safe now, the threat had been taken care off.

Adrenaline faded away and this sudden weak feeling and cold overwhelmed his body and made him shiver. Nausea took him over and he managed to lean on his hands and knees before he threw up all over the floor, his stomach attempting to get rid of all the water he had accidentally swallowed.

He was send into a coughing fit as nearly being drowned caught up to him. He was coughing, his chest hurt, nausea plagued him, he was wet, he was cold, his head pounded and his right arm ached. He doubted the latter was simply bruised.

Nevertheless, he had just fired five bullets, five very audible shots. If he didn't hurry, practically the whole camp would be upon them in no time.

Shadow pushed his aching and ill body up, stumbling and falling to the ground again in his first attempt, but managed to stay somewhat upright with the support of the wall.

He grabbed the map, took his son's hand, the boy had disobeyed his order of staying hidden no matter what and stood at the bottom of the stairs upon hearing such a commotion in the attic, and quickly made way for the exit, wanting to be anywhere else but here.

* * *

 _I was convinced Silver's cuteness level hadn't reached the right quota for the day yet. XD_

 _And I would also like to mention that this is officially the end of the Spring... Saga? Either way, the next chapter is the beginning of Summer. :)_

 _Also I would really appreciate it if you guys made me aware of any mistakes I might've made both grammar wise and story wise._

 _So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please do leave a review and tell me what you think! :3_


	9. The Clinic

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!_

 _So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one._

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. Being made aware of grammatical errors is always appreciated. :)_

 _Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Chapter 8 - The Clinic**

 _-Year 2038, Summer-_

The last remains of Winter's cold faded away to make way for Spring's soft breeze, which eventually turned into Summer's heat as the months passed and June came.

During that time, father and son managed to escape from the human inhabited town without any further trouble and unpleasant encounters. Shadow's ailments healed for as much as they could with what little medical attention they got.

Scratches healed, the headwound closed, bruises dissapeared, but it seems like the fracture in his right forearm hadn't healed like it should've. It looks like that arm wasn't as strong anymore as it used to be and certain angles made a jolt run through his system.

Nevertheless, they continued on.

What was important to the darker hedgehog was that they had plenty of supplies. They had food, they had water, but of course, no harm could be done if they searched for more.

"I don't like this place." Silver said as he stared at the ominous building, small hands clinging onto the fence.

Behind the metal fence that embraced the entire perimeter, was a building. It wasn't all that big, but it certainly wasn't all that small either. It was a hospital. Well, a private clinic to be more precise.

It used to be hightech and had state of the art equipment and drugs, the architecture also suggested that it was only for the rich, or so Shadow's brother had told him. You want to know if it belonged to rich folks? Just look at how fancy it was. And this building looked pretty fancy to Shadow.

Old and decrepit now, but still held this aura of its former glory.

To Silver, this building looked like trouble.

"Neither do I, but it looks relatively safe. We go in, get some medicine and we get out." Shadow reassured him and placed his bag on the grassy and dirt covered ground and followed it down as he sat on his knees. After zipping his backpack open and taking a quick peek inside, he managed to wield a pair of bolt cutters, just small enough to fit in the pocket of his black jacket.

Shadow figured that this would do and turned his attention to the metal fence before them.

Silver lowered himself to his knees and watched as his father used all the strength his left arm could muster to cut through the metal of the fence. He seemed visibly troubled as he cut through each row, soon creating an opening big enough for him to crawl through.

Surviving in the apocalypse was a nice way to stay fit and build muscle, but if you were leaning even a bit to being underweight, with how scarce food was, it wasn't all that easy for the body to hold onto the muscles it build. Shadow had often wondered how much easier his predicament could've been if he was just a tad bit stronger.

And taller, but only for personal reasons.

Once he was done, he couldn't help but flex his hand a bit.

"That should do it. Silver, you crawl through first. I will follow right after." One told the other, who listened and crawled through the opening while his father pulled on the loose part of the fence to keep it open for him to crawl through.

Shadow crawled through the opening next, pushing it aside as he tried to make sure neither his clothing nor his backpack would get caught, though he did get a few annoying scratches and dirt patches on his knees.

Now that they were both through, they simply had to walk around to the front entrance. Besides a couple of birds and a few insects, there was not a single sign of life or death, so there was no reason to sneak.

The two walked around the building to the entrance and found it boarded up. Luckily, the wooden boards were aged and not hammered in so tight, so it was pretty much child's play trying to get them out.

It did give Shadow some reassurance, though. At least now he was sure they were the first ones here.

The room they came across first was the lobby. Papers were strewn all around the space, dust and dirt was everywhere, the once neatly organised counter was a mess. The lobby was a disheveled mess, which the two expected.

It was dark and the air stuffy, which was probably to blame on all the windows that were boarded shut with planks of wood. Only thin streams of sunlight seeping through made it possible to see anything.

"It's so dark." Silver whispered, having been taught long ago that whispering was required in a new area when you didn't know if it was safe or not.

Shadow replied with a single hum in agreement, straining his ears to pick up any kind of sounds.

It seems like they were alone. That thought comforted the ebony hedgehog.

One door behind the counter lead to an office, which was one of the many rooms Shadow simply skipped aswell as the waitingroom and many of the private was only one place that piqued his interest and that was the storage room. If there was a place where he might find medicine and bandages, it would be in there.

The storage had to be on one of the lower floors, so that was where Shadow decided to go. At the first stairwell they found, the two walked down to the apparent basement of this place. There were no other floors beneath the groundfloor and so they decided to take their chances there.

There was a large boiler room that hadn't been used in a long time, laundry rooms and finally the storage rooms.

There was also a more sanitary looking part to the basement, but with a plaque with 'morgue' written on top stuck fast to the wall, Shadow assumed it was wise to ignore that particular part of the clinic.

"What're we looking for?" Silver asked, craning his neck to look up to the older one.

"Bandages. You can help me find bandages. It's always helpful to have a few of those in your bag." The ebony one replied as he started to look around the many different lockers and cabinets. If he had something to spalk his forearm with a month or so ago, maybe he could've taken beter care of it. Yes, he had read up on medical practices after what happened with... Well, he could still hardly be called a doctor or even a nurse.

Either way, there wasn't a whole lot, most of the medicine was overdate, but at least there were still a few bandages they could nab.

"Here!" Silver came with a handful of band-aids, which Shadow could only accept.

In his backpack was a plastic bag in which he stuffed all the medical supplies they had managed to salvage. Right now there was a single roll of bandage, a needle and some thread, disinfectant, which he wasn't even entirely sure could still be used, and now band-aids on courtesy of Silver.

"Now that was something we desperatly needed. If you find anything else, don't hesitate to show me." Shadow told the boy and send him on his way again, but the boy was no longer listening.

The silvery hedgehog could've sworn he had seen something move past the door just now in the corners of his amber eyes, but saw nothing. But he didn't take any chances and simply stood closer to his father, seeking comfort in his presence.

Another few rolls of bandage were stuffed into the plastic medical bag and Shadow felt proud of their findings. Next time either one of them got hurt, they'd be prepared.

"This'll be all for now. We should go and get back on the r-"

A loud banging interrupted him.

Silver, on instinct, hid behind his father, grabbing a handful of the hedgehog's jeans as he peeked just a bit.

Shadow, on the other hand, froze in place. Slowly he turned to look at the door and cautiously made his way to it, sneaking a peek around the corner. It sounded like a heavy door slamming shut, but there was nothing except for the hallway leading to the morgue.

This hedgehog was not about to go there and possibly risk his neck for nothing. So he took the wise decision to leave.

"Come on, Silver." He whispered to his son and took his hand as they left, it was reassuring to feel that he had the boy right by his side.

But as they walked in the hallway, another kind of banging resonated through the hallway, like fists banging on metal in a rapid pace. Both of their hearts skipped a beat and while Silver was frozen in place, Shadow was ready to pick the boy up and start running.

But he didn't.

In the midst of all that loud banging, the noise multiplied by the echoes of these corridors, he could pick up on the cries of a child in despair.

Without as much as a second thought, Shadow turned on his heels and raced down the hall and towards the heavy doors of the morgue, letting go of Silver's hand. The banging and crying grew louder and more desperate, like a child was being cornered by a nightmare.

With his dominant hand on his gun, Shadow pulled the door open and came face to face with his worst fear.

A child, just barely older than his own son, almost in the grasp of a small group of Wanderers.

With lightning reflexes, he pulled the young child away from the threat and with precise aim shot the nearest Wanderer between the eyes. It fell over in a lifeless heap on the floor.

"Run!" He ordered both of the boys and they didn't need to be told twice as they both bolted for the stairs.

With them out of the way, Shadow could concentrate on the other five. There were about six bullets in this magazine. Should be enough to take care of them all.

Staying clear from their reach, it was fairly easy to take care of Wanderers, which Shadow was thankful for. One shot, one fell down. Second shot, another fell down.

But suddenly, believing its cover to be blown, one of the last three zombies lunged forward with an inhuman growl and grabbed both of the hedgehog's wrists and he could only yelp in surprise and try to take a step back.

A Runner. A particularly strong one to boot.

Shadow growled in frustration as he struggled with the undead, trying to aim his gun at the underside of its jaw without being bit and keeping an eye out for the two remaining Wanderers, which were nearly upon them.

"Get off!" The hedgehog growled and kicked the Runner in the gut, but the thing felt no pain.

It's tight grip hurt his right arm and the annoying stabbing pain made it difficult to use that limb. Nevertheless, he tried as the putrid stench of rotting flesh filled his nostrils and made it difficult to breath.

He desperatly tried to avoid the teeth as he was pinned against the wall. His gun was now pressed with its side against the Runner's throat, used to push it back and leaving its jaws to clamp down on empty air.

It was only when he could've sworn that he felt something salivating on him that salvation came.

A loud gunshot coupled with part of the Runner's head being blown to smithereens was what finally freed him, rotten blood sprayed all over him aswell as bits of skull and brain before the zombie collapsed to the floor, still stubbornly holding onto the ebony hedgehog's forearms even in death.

Another two shots and the last two zombies were felled.

Shadow could only sigh in relief, eyes briefly closing as he could finally calm himself.

"Are you bitten?" Asked a rather gruff voice and Shadow looked up to his saviour.

Like most adults Shadow encountered, this crimson echidna was taller than him and bore a deep frown on his face. He looked nearly exactly like the boy he had pulled away from that group of zombies just now. Except this one had blue eyes, thick white eyebrows and a small beard.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you." Shadow told him gratefully as he pulled himself free with one foot on the dead undead's shoulder. Though this man had just saved him, he couldn't help but be weary. He knew better than to trust someone blindly.

"My name's Locke. And yours?" The echidna introduced himself and offered a hand as was dictated by social etiquette.

"Shadow." The hedgehog introduced himself with a simple word, hesitantly taking the man's hand to shake it.

Shadow could only wonder if this man was really to be trusted or not. Kid or not, that didn't tell him if Locke was friend or foe.

The two pulled away somewhat awkwardly and Locke turned to walk away from him and down the hall. Knowing that Silver was roughly that way, Shadow quickly followed.

"My son told me about you when I found him and your little brother. Both of them were in hysterics so I came down here to see. That's how I found you." Locke answered without even needing to be asked as they walked, Shadow a little ways behind.

"He's not my brother, he's my son." Shadow replied irritably, casting his gaze downwards.

Locke couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he looked back at the young hedgehog from over his shoulder for a short moment before gazing back in front of him again. He wasn't about to pay the matter much attention.

The two mobians reached the groundfloor and Shadow barely had to show his face before Silver threw himself in his dad's arms, happy to see that the 'baddies' didn't get their hands on him.

"I heard you yell." The boy sobbed as his arms wrapped around his elder's neck in a tight embrace. Shadow was on his knees as he allowed the boy hug him tight, providing comfort for him.

"It's okay, they're gone." He reassured the young boy and pulled away from him to dry his cheeks as his sobs had turned into soft sniffs.

Locke stood by the sidelines as he watched the hedgehog pair, his own son drying his tears not far away from him.

"You two on your own?" The echidna asked, prompting Shadow to stand upright and face him.

"Yes, but we're fine." Shadow promptly responded, earning himself a huff.

"I don't like it either, but my wife would kill me if I didn't bring you home with us after what you did for Knuckles." Locke said, not all that fond of the idea of bringing two strangers to their current settlement, though he feared his wife's retribution even more.

"Will there be food?" Silver couldn't help but ask, rubbing in his eye as he looked up to the older echidna.

"Well, I suppose we could share." Locke supposed, though unwillingly.

"Dad, they have food!" Just like that Silver had forgotten the scare he had as he looked to his father with a gleaming smile and an excited glint in his amber eyes.

Shadow could only sigh and ruffle Silver's forehead quills.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to take you up on that offer." He figured his son might be hungry and he could feel his own stomach growling inside. Maybe dropping by for a snack wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"Follow me."

* * *

The way to the echidnas' settlement was a forty-five minute walk of mostly silence, but eventually the four of them arrived at a cabin tucked away in a decently sized woods. It still looked well-taken care off, a fate the garden sadly did not share, despites its obvious old age and was completely made out of wood.

The ebony hedgehog kept a tight hold on his son's hand to reassure himself that he was still there as they followed the two echidnas up on the driveway and the porch. Locke briefly looked around before entering his abode with his son running inside and granted the two hedgehogs entrance aswell.

"Mom!" Knuckles yelled as he ran into the livingroom, Locke followed after closing the front door behind them

So far everything seemed safe and normal, but Shadow decided that it was best to stay weary for now. 'Better safe than sorry' was a saying he pretty much lived by.

"Silver, I want you to stay close to me at all times, okay?" He asked the young boy and the four year old nodded up to him.

Silver didn't quite understand why his father would be so suspicious towards people who seemed nice enough to share their food with them, but he figured that listening was a good idea.

"Lara-Le, we've got company." Locke announced as the hedgehogs came walking into the livingroom, introducing their guests for this evening.

Their eyes fell on a red-furred echidna, a female one this time, with light green eyes. She had been sitting on the couch with a book closed on her lap as she hugged Knuckles close, but upon noticing the two visitors, she left the book on the couch and got up, wanting to greet the new faces.

"What do we have here, locke?" Lara-Le, as Locke had called her, asked as she joined him by his side, hooking an arm around his.

"Two hedgehogs we found in the clinic. Knuckles got himself in trouble with some Dead. Shadow bought him some time so he could escape. I had a feeling Knuckles would've told you and I know how angry you'd get if I didn't at least bring him over, so here he is." Locke briefly explained, though he was still frowning.

Shadow wasn't exactly listening as he found his attention caught by lara-Le's form. She looked like she could've had a beautiful figure, but her belly was large and swollen. She was pregnant.

The hedgehog found himself comforted by the sight. How bad could these people be with a second child on the way?

* * *

 _And this marks the beginning of the Summer arc! I had a bit of difficulty getting this one started, but I managed to get it done! ^^_

 _Also I would really appreciate it if you guys made me aware of any mistakes I might've made both grammar wise and story wise._

 _So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please do leave a review and tell me what you think! :3_


	10. Rain

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!_

 _So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one._

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. Being made aware of grammatical errors is always appreciated. :)_

 _Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Chapter 9 - Rain**

 _-Year 2038, Summer-_

The three adults took a seat at the table in the kitchen, two of them glad they could finally sit down and rest their legs. Silver, listening to his father's earlier demand of staying close to him, followed the adults and climbed up on a chair aswell, resting his chin on two crossed arms.

"So... How far along are you?" Shadow asked almost awkwardly. He had never been all that strong in partaking in small talk, but since these people were kind enough to share their supplies with him, he figured it wouldn't be such a bad idea to show a bit of gratitude instead of shutting them out.

"Oh, I'm ready to pop at any moment now." Lara-Le replied, snickering a little at her own joke. She looked slightly uncomfortable, but happy nonetheless.

"I'm nine months far. The baby could come any day now and I hope she doesn't wait any longer then necessary. It'd be nice to leave the house once in a while." Though she said this with a smile, it was obvious that she was dying to leave the house for once. They must be really protective of this baby.

Shadow's gaze cast downwards for a moment as he realised this. He and Rouge had been protective of Silver back then too, but look at them now. A sharp aching made itself known in the ebony's chest as he wondered if his juvenile mindset at the time was the reason for her absence. They had been hurried to reach the next quarantine zone.

"She?" He asked instead of mulling about the matter any longer.

"I have a feeling the baby will be a girl. Locke doesn't seem all that biased about a gender, but I'm quite certain it'll be a she." Lara-Le answered, hands unconsciously resting on her belly.

"I think I should say congratulations for the new baby." He looked back at them again to give them a friendly smile to show that he was being sincere, though it felt foreign to force it like this. Much like his inability to socialise without feeling awkward, wearing anything other than a neutral expression on his face was also quite a task, his smiles were usually reserved for Silver and his shenanigans.

"Thank you! I suppose I should tell you the same, but your handsome man is already all grown up." Lara-Le complimented the silvery boy as she looked at him, to which he grinned shyly.

"What about his mother? Do you know where she is?" It was a logical question. A child should have a mother and a father. Silver had a father, but no mother, so it was only natural for Lara-Le to ask.

Didn't mean Shadow liked to answer.

Even though he could feel Silver's gaze glued to him, as confused as the expecting mother.

"What are your plans? Are you staying here until the baby is born?" The ebony hedgehog asked instead, changing the subject to something more comfortable.

Silver's gaze cast downwards, now resting on the table his crossed arms laid upon.

"Well..." Locke seemed reluctant to answer, thin lips pressing onto eachother as his eyes narrowed. It was because of this that Lara-Le's voice died off, sensing her husband's hesitance.

It was then that Shadow knew he had made a mistake.

"It's getting late. We'll get something to eat and we can send you and your son on your way. Deal?" The male echidna spoke up as he leant forward with his elbows on the table, glaring at his young guest.

Shadow's arms crossed in front of his chest out of habit and a sign of defence, but he didn't return the glare. Silver only sat up straight and sat back in the chair, amber eyes moving from one male adult to the next, wondering what had suddenly gone wrong.

"Sounds just fine to me." The ebony hedgehog wasn't in a position to argue, so he could only agree.

Locke huffed before turning his attention to his pregnant wife.

"Lara-Le, I believe it's time we put some food on the table." He simply stated and left the room to go fetch his bag with their find for today.

* * *

Dinner had been short and eaten in peace and quiet. The two boys simply sat there and ate, wondering where this heavy silence had come from while the three adults avoided talking to eachother, the youngest of the three mentally kicking himself for his poor choice of words.

The dark hedgehog had hoped to spend a night here, his exhaustion made it seem like a splendid idea, but now that plan had been scrapped. It seemed like they would have to continue their travels late in the evening.

"I hope you don't mind Locke's brash behaviour. He can be a bit overbearing at times." Lara-Le attempted to excuse her lover as they retreated to livingroom after cleaning up in the kitchen, but Shadow shook his head.

"It's fine, I completely understand. I have no objections about leaving this evening. You don't have to worry." He backed himself up. He honestly didn't want to stay with an echidna who owned a gun and didn't trust him.

"If you truly don't mind... I would've liked to get to know you a bit more though. You seem like a nice person." Lara-Le seemed genuinely dissapointed to have their first friendly guests in a long time leave so soon, but she knew little could change her husband's mind.

"I'm trying to reach an important destination. So the sooner we get going, the better." Shadow tried to improve her mood, but it didn't seem to work as well as he had hoped. All that would truly make her content was her husband's decision to let father and son stay.

* * *

And then storm clouds appeared up ahead.

In no time at all rain came down heavily from the dark sky, soaking everything in mere seconds. The wind came rushing through the trees, creating these awful howls that filled the uncomfortable silence ruling the cabin.

Shadow let out a barely audible sigh as he watched the rain pelt down on the window. Without a doubt he and Silver would catch a cold if they left now, but he didn't wish to impose on these people any longer than necessary, especially since Locke didn't seem all that fond of him. Still, he wouldn't want, or could afford, for either one of them to get sick.

"You're still free to stay here a bit longer if you'd like." As if able to read his mind, Lara-Le spoke up about the matter, offering up their home once more.

Shadow faced her as he turned his back on the window, leaning against its sill.

"It seems that we have no other choice. So that would be nice, thank you." The hedgehog told her gratefully. At least they'd be dry for a little while longer.

Lara-Le gave him a small, sympathetic, smile as he thanked her. She moved to sit on the couch, a fleeting expression of discomfort present on her features.

"Are you alright?" Shadow asked, but the echidna simply dismissed his worry, stating that the weight had been taken a toll on her back and hips.

The two were present in the livingroom, but weren't the only ones there. Knuckles had dozed off on the worn couch after a long day of walking, his full stomach helping greatly in lulling him to sleep. Silver, meanwhile, sat on his knees on the two-person seat, arms crossed on the back and chin resting on top as he watch the rain create small streaks down the glass, blurring the outside. The dreary weather wasn't doing his mood much justice, but it seemed he was content with watching the rain.

As the silence continue, he kept on watching.

* * *

The hours passed and it didn't seem like the rain was planning on letting up. The sky was also turning darker and the clouds more threatening. Whatever was hanging above their heads in the sky, it planned to stay.

So father and son were forced to stick by the trio of echidnas a while longer, simply waiting out the storm as they sat on the couch. The man of the house was with them this time after hiding away their salvaged goods.

It was silent. One of the two boys had snuggled up against his mother while the other one sat close to his father, looking around. The echidna couple were seated close to eachother for warmth. Lara-Le seemed to find it difficult to find a comfortable position as her head rested on her man's shoulder. And Shadow sat in the two-person couch, head leant back and eyes heavy with sleep as he simply stared up to the ceiling and listened to the rain.

The dark one was fighting to stay awake, though it was a battle gone in vain as his eyes lids kept closing and it became harder to keep them open. As much as he wanted to keep his guard up, the sound of the rain hitting the window made it even more difficult to win against sleep. His eyes stayed closed as he slowly drifted off.

Until Silver grabbed his sleeve and pulled, waking him back up.

"What?" A hand ran through his spines as he straightened up. As his drowsiness faded a little, he looked down at the silvery boy.

"I heard something outside!" Silver spoke to him in a whisper, his facial features showed an evident expression of concern. This, in turn, alarmed his father. Silver knew the noises that belonged in the woods, they had camped out in the green embrace of the trees before.

Shadow looked at the echidna couple and noticed that they had dozed off aswell. Not wanting to alarm them just yet, the dark hedgehog got up from the couch to look out of the window, an attempt to catch anything lurking outside.

He saw bushes rustling, branches swaying in the wind, but no suspicious figures.

"I heard something! I really did!" Silver insisted as he watched his father pull himself away from the window with a tired sigh.

"Silver, there's a heavy rainfall going on, it's windy and it's late. I'm sure your mind is playing tricks on you because you're tired." Shadow rationalised as he walked back to his son and sat down right next to him again. As he leant back, he brought his hands up to rub in his face, drowsiness still very much present.

"No, it was real!" The young boy continued, pulling on his parent's jacket to get him to listen.

"Maybe it was just Locke's insufferable snoring you heard?" Shadow asked, referring to the older man's considerably loud snoring as he sat there with his head tilted back.

Silver shook his head.

"Maybe it was the house creaking." Shadow suggested with a suppressed sigh.

Silver once again shook his head, this time more feverishly.

A flash of light suddenly filled the room for just a split second, which was quickly followed by a loud booming noise, startling the young hedgehog.

"A thunderstorm, great." Shadow muttered. He never really slept well during storms and especially not since he had Silver. It wasn't that the boy was afraid, it was more like the loud noise of the thunder kept startling him.

But even so, Silver looked even more nervous now.

"Dad!" He called again, though he didn't want to awaken the echidnas.

"Silver, we're in a forest. You could've heard any number of sounds. Whatever it is that made you jump, I'm sure it's just an animal." Shadow tried to convince him. All he wanted to do was sleep.

And that's when he heard it. Amidst the sound of thunder roaring and wind blowing outside, he could hear the faint jingling of a bell.

"What the..." He muttered as he looked over his shoulder at the window. As he heard it again, he wondered if that was the sound that bothered Silver so much.

"Can you hear it now?" Silver asked with a pout, just shy of crossing his arms and looking like his father when he was that age.

Shadow didn't respond as he got up from the couch to look out the window again. As he suinted his eyes, he could faintly see a dark figure moving through the wood, but couldn't make out what it was. Whenever it passed, the jingling rang out again, muffled by the rain, wind and thunder.

"Locke. Locke, wake up!" Wide awake now, Shadow hastily made his way to the male echidna to wake him up, shaking his shoulder.

"What do you want?" Locke grunted in dismay as he was roused so rudely from his slumber.

"There's something outside and I don't think it's an animal." Shadow explained, ears twitching as he could faintly hear the bell again.

As the faint sound reached his ears aswell, Locke looked up in surprise.

"Locke? What's the matter?" Lara-Le woke up when her husband moved to get up. With glazy eyes did she look up to him as Locke grabbed for his jacket and gun in the dim candle light, hiding the latter in his belt.

"Something triggered the trap. I'm going to see what it is and make sure they're not strangers or dead people." He responded and grabbed a flashlight before heading for the hallway. As he passed one of his guests, he stopped and turned to Shadow.

"Stay here and don't let anyone in." He told him sharply before he left, the closing of the front door barely audible over the sound of thunder.

The crimson echidna did not trust Shadow, but he hated leaving his lover and son alone even more. Shadow wanted to reassure him that they were in safe hands, but got no time to do so as the echidna was already gone.

"Where is dad going?" A very tired Knuckles asked his mother as the light ruckus woke him up.

"It's nothing, he just went outside for a little bit. He'll be back soon." Lara-Le reassured him quickly, smiling down at her son.

"What was Locke talking about? What traps?" Shadow had to ask, causing the female echidna to turn her attention back to him.

"When we settled here around my sixth month, Locke set up some wires around the perimeter. They're attached to bells, cans, anything that makes sound. When something trips over one, we'll hear it and we'll be alerted in case someone or something is coming our way." She explained and Shadow couldn't help but be impressed.

"So it's an alarm system!" He exclaimed. Shadow had never actually thought about a system like that before, but then again, he and Silver didn't settle down either. The expectant woman couldn't help but give him a smile.

"Yes, exactly, except it's still quite flawed. Animals often get caught in the traps. But no matter, as soon as the baby is here, we're out of here." She stated, clearly excited to leave this place.

"So I see, you are leaving as soon as the baby arrives." With his attention diverted from the nifty alarm system, Shadow took a seat on the couch next to Lara-Le.

"When we found this cabin, we planned on staying for aslong as I was expectant. As soon as the baby is here, we'll take another week to rest before we leave." She responded.

"Locke would've liked to stay, but it's taking longer and longer to find food around here. As Knuckles' father he likes to teach him all sorts of things, but I get worried for my two men when they stay away for so long. So staying here is quickly becoming less and less of an option." Lara-Le breathed a very deep and shaky sigh as her hands came to rest on her large belly.

"Lara-Le, are you sure you're alright?" Shadow asked as his eyes looked her over. He couldn't help but notice how more and more uneasy she looked during these past hours.

But before the female echidna could reply, the loud sound of a gunshot rang out, startling the four remaining people in the cabin.

"Was that Locke or..." Shadow muttered as he got up from the couch, looking out through the window from his position and just shy from leaving and checking on the man.

"Mom? What's wrong?" Knuckles' voice soon reached his ears, causing him to look back at the two echidnas and notice that the mother's face was now contorted in pain, a wet stain growing larger and larger on her pants and seat.

"I tried to... hold out for aslong as I could, but... it's becoming impossible." Lara-Le could barely speak without gasping for breath.

"Wait, the baby's coming now?! Why didn't you tell anyone you were having contractions?!" As soon as realisation hit him, panic settled in his mind.

"Is the baby in Lara-Le's tummy coming?" Silver asked, confused with the events transpiring before him.

"Damn, this isn't good. This isn't good at all." Backing away a few steps, one of Shadow's hands settled in his quills.

"Why are you panicking?! You've done this before, haven't you?" The female echidna asked, the ebony's panicked state of mind rubbed her the wrong way and did little to help her.

"Yes, once! Nearly five years ago! And it wasn't like Rouge..." A sharp gasp left Shadow as he suddenly felt out of breath. He felt uncomfortably warm despite the cold weather, he felt smothered, it was difficult to think straight.

Unwanted memories flooded his mind.

"Dad?" Silver's young voice reached his ears. The boy was confused and concerned, he looked to his father for an explanation.

Just then a second gunshot rang out and Lara-Le whimpered her husband's name, no longer able to tolerate the pain as the contractions came faster and fiercer.

Shadow knew he had an unpleasant choice to make. Either he help Lara-Le and risk the possible loss of Locke or he'd go out to help Locke and possibly complicate Lara-Le's labour.

* * *

 _And as Summer continues, Shadow finds himself torn between two decisions!_

 _Also I would really appreciate it if you guys made me aware of any mistakes I might've made both grammar wise and story wise._

 _So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please do leave a review and tell me what you think! :3_


	11. A New Light

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!_

 _So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one._

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. Being made aware of grammatical errors is always appreciated. :)_

 _Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Chapter 10 - A New Light**

 _-Year 2038, Summer-_

Shadow knew he had a choice to make. Either he would help Lara-Le with her labour or he could go find Locke and see if he was in trouble. It was a difficult choice and the occasional gunshot and whine from Lara-Le certainly didn't help.

"Locke... Where are you?" Cried the expectant mother as she hunched over a bit, arms wrapped around her painful abdomen.

As Shadow looked towards the darkness outside through the window, he cursed himself.

What happened nearly five years ago was scratching against his mind's eye. What transpired now terrified him and he felt guilt already gnawing at his heart as he actually considered going after Locke.

He didn't want to witness this again. Once was more than enough.

"Dad?" The voice drew his attention down to a small, silvery form. Silver stood in front of him now, pulling at his sleeve and mimicking the same scared expression his parent wore.

Shadow hadn't even noticed his own trembling and hyperventilating until his son snapped him out of it.

"What do we do?!" The small boy asked, once again pulling on his sleeve. Shadow hated that look on his face, but somehow it comforted him.

He wasn't alone. That's what mattered to him and that gave him the courage he needed to make his final choice.

"Lara-Le," The ebony hedgehog called her name as he approached her and took her two hands into his own.

"There's a bed we can use upstairs, right? I'll help you to it." He reassured her and gave her a forced smile. His fear was clearly written all over him and he was shaking, but at least he managed to move again.

The upset Knuckles watched as his mother was pulled to her feet and supported by a hedgehog that was only an inch taller than her.

"You'll be okay... You'll be fine..." Shadow comforted her as they made their way out of the livingroom and up the stairs, though he seemed to be trying to convince himself aswell. The way up the stairs had never been so long.

"The first door is the bathroom, we need the second one." Lara-Le told him in between groans of pain.

"We're here." Shadow told her and held the door for her open so she could enter, though she stopped for a moment to live through another contraction and held a painful grip on his shoulder.

The hedgehog helped her lie down on the bed and as Lara-Le moaned and cringed, Shadow took a step back to try and collect his thoughts.

What was he to do now? Silver had come fairly quickly, but this baby seemed to come even quicker and even back then he had been at a loss on what to do. He had simply helped Silver's mother out of her trousers and underwear and tried to encourage her through it, in hindsight he thought he should've done more.

"Shadow!" Lara-Le called his name as she pulled on her pants, desperate to get it off. The hedgehog acted quickly as he pulled her shoes off and helped remove her pants, tried to turn his mind off, and her underwear.

Now what was he to do?

A quick scan of the room held no answers for him, but he did see two kids hiding behind the door frame and so closed the door to give the mother some privacy.

"Lara-Le, I have only read medical books in my free time back home. So I'm not all that knowledgeable when it comes to this, nor can I be called a doctor of any kind in general, but-"

"I don't care if you're not a doctor! You weren't one when your son was born and you still delivered him, right? Please, I just want it out of me!" Lara-Le cried as she felt the urge to push rise.

"You're right... You're right..." Shadow repeated as he ran a hand through his quills. He attempted to remember what he had done next without getting into another panicking fit.

'Stop it!' Shadow shouted at himself in his mind. He didn't panic when Silver was coming, so he refused to panic now.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"You've already given birth once, so you know what you need to do, right? If you need anything, I'll be right here." He told the woman and sat on the bed on his knees in front of her spread legs.

"I need to push. I need to push so bad!" Lara-Le cried as she threw her head back on the pillow, sweat coating her red fur more and more.

"Than push. I believe you should push with every contraction, whenever the need arises." Shadow told her, no longer shivering as much.

He finally felt himself calm down.

"Shadow." The pained woman whimpered in agony.

"Don't worry, I'm right here. Just push." The said dark hedgehog comforted her and returned her some peace of mind, the knowledge that she wasn't alone in this reassured her greatly.

* * *

Knuckles and Silver sat right outside of the room on the floor with their backs to the wall. The silvery boy shivered silently while the crimson one tried to shy away from his mother's cries. Neither one of the two had the slightest idea about what was going on in that room.

"What do you think dad and Lara-Le are doing?" Silver asked the other boy, but Knuckles could just barely bring himself to answer.

"I don't know, but I don't like it! It sounds like he's hurting her!" The small echidna shouted as he got up to land an angry kick on the door. Seeing that no one was responding, he stomped over to Silver and dropped down on the floor next to him. With his small fists he grasped his arms tightly as he buried his face within them and he pulled his knees up to his chest.

"My dad doesn't hurt people." Silver felt compassion for his temporary friend, but he just couldn't let that claim pass by. For aslong as they had been wandering outside, he had only witnessed his father avoiding people for as much as he could. When Silver saw him cradling his broken arm outside of the human infested town in one moment of peace without realising that his son had been watching, it had become quite clear to Silver just who hurt who.

Knuckles glared at the hedgehog next to him, believing him to be a liar. But as he heard his mother cry out again, he jumped up to his feet once more.

"I'm gonna go get dad!" Knuckles stated with resolution in his voice and quickly ran down the hall.

"Come back!" Silver yelled after him, but it was no use, prompting him to get up aswell and follow him.

Nearly tripping down the last few steps, Knuckles reached the front door and could only just grasp the knob when he was suddenly halted.

"What is that?" The young echidna asked as he let go and looked back at Silver, who stood halfway on the stairs, listening intently.

To them it sounded like someone was crying the lungs out of their body. It sounded muffled to them.

"I think that's a baby." Silver stated, having heard that sound in the Quarantine Zone once or twice.

"Mom's baby!" Knuckles exclaimed and ran back up the stairs even faster than he had descended it. In no time at all was he back in front of his parents' bedroom door and left Silver to chase him once again.

He grabbed and turned the knob of the door with such a hurry that he stumbled inside and fell to his knees.

The boys came to a halt upon the sight they found within.

Lara-Le cried as she sat there slouched with her upper back and head resting on a pillow propped up against the head board. In her arms she gingerly held something wrapped in a blanket. It was moving and it was the source of all that crying.

Shadow was still sitting on his knees on the foot end of the bed, his shoes kicked off, an expression of relief and contentment was worn on his face as he watched mother and child.

As the new mother noticed the two boys standing there, she had to call them over.

"What are you two boys doing there? Come on in." Despites her exhaustion and tears, she smiled as she coaxed the two over, but they only took a few reluctant steps.

"Knuckles, why don't you come meet your little sister." Upon hearing his mother speak directly to him, Knuckles approached the bed and climbed up to meet with his mother and the newborn she held.

The infant of barely an hour quickly fell asleep as the labour had drained her completely. She lay quietly in her mother's arms, still filthy and covered in blood and amniotic fluid, but already cozily wrapped in a warm blanket.

When Knuckles laid his eyes on her, he was stumped and sought for answers with his mother.

"That's your little sister, Knuckles. Won't you say 'hi' to her?" Lara-Le tried to persuade Knuckles to speak to his new sister, but it seemed he was interested in only one thing.

"She's so dirty." He stated with a furrowed brow and a frown, earning himself a tired laugh from his mother.

"Of course, she is, she hasn't been cleaned yet." As mother and son continued to converse, Silver climbed up on the bed to join his father.

"Is that Lara-Le's baby?" The silvery hedgehog asked, crawling onto his parent's lap. It was then that he noticed the blood and unidentifiable fluid coating his old man's hands and a bit of his wrists. He could see it covered the infant aswell.

"Yes, it is. It's a girl." His father replied as he wrapped his arms lightly around the boy and intertwined his fingers in front of him, seemingly not a bothered by the filth on his hands at the moment. He was much too content simply watching the new baby.

"You know, you were once that small too." Shadow could help but tell him, gaze finally moving to settle on his son.

"I was?" Silver asked as he looked up in surprise, his disgust for the bodily fluids suddenly forgotten.

"Hm-mh." Shadow responded with a simple nod and a hum.

Silver looked back at the echidna infant sleeping in her mother's arms.

And then a thought popped up in his mind.

"Did my mom hold me like that?"

Immediatly the black hedgehog froze up.

"Dad?" Silver called for him, but received no response.

"Lara-Le, I hate to interrupt this moment, but I have to go out and make sure Locke is okay. I haven't heard him in a while." Shadow instead got up from the bed as he turned his attention to the older echidna, picking Silver up from his lap and leaving him on the bed.

"Okay, I'll be keeping an eye on the boys." The woman responded back to him.

Shadow cleaned his hands and left the room, trusting the children to stay close to Lara-Le while he quickly left the cabin to search for Locke, leaving his son behind in dissapointment.

With his gun loaded and tucked away in his belt and some extra ammunition at his disposal, the ebony hedgehog ventured outside. Almost instantly did the chilly air of the outside catch him off guard. As he left the porch he could feel the rain still coming down on him. Everything was soggy and muddy, but at least the thunder and lightning had let up for now.

Shadow squinted his eyes as he tried to see anything through the trees and rain, but saw nothing. He was about to risk it and go in a random direction when he heard someone call his name.

"Shadow!" The said hedgehog turned to face the source of the shout and came face to face with an angry, unharmed echidna.

"Did you find what was making that noise?" He asked as he turned his body towards him.

"Some deer, but that's besides the point. What the hell did I tell you about leaving the house?! Something could've snuck inside!" With a harsh shove did he emphasize his anger and Shadow could only stumble, fists clenching.

"Instead of reprimanding me, maybe you should go inside and join your wife in the bedroom. her water broke while you were out deer hunting." Shadow informed him, trying not to let his annoyence show.

Locke's eyes widened and his posture stiffened as realisation hit him like a ton of bricks. Then, but a moment later, the man pushed past him as he raced inside. Shadow was left to watch him dissapear inside and threw one last quick glance at his surroundings before following him back into the cabin.

Upon arriving back in the bedroom, Shadow noticed that Locke had joined his wife by her side, one arm wrapped around her as he stared, mesmerized, at their newborn.

He soon turned his attention to Silver, who still sat on the footend of the bed.

"Silver, let's leave them alone for a little while." He told the silvery hedgehog and took his hand as he guided him out of the room and down the stairs. He didn't want to be in their way any longer and waited for the rain to pass in the livingroom.

* * *

Barely half an hour had passed when Locke came walking down the stairs, a grim expression on his muzzle. Shadow drew up from his slouched position on the couch to show he had his attention. Silver, too, sat up straight as he watched the two adults.

"I don't know what happened to that boy's mother and frankly I don't trust you and certainly not your persisting silence about it." The echidna began, obviously voicing his feelings and thoughts with difficulty.

"But Lara-Le and I have been talking and she seems convinced that you're a good guy. So she's suggesting we stay together indefinitely." Locke finished and looked more at the wall than the hedgehogs he was talking to. Swallowing his own words had never sat all that well with him.

The meaning of his words sank slowly into the dark hedgehog's mind as he realised what this meant.

Teaming up meant more protection for Silver. It meant more food, more hands for help, less vulnerability. In other words, nothing but good for now.

"Does this mean we'll eat together again?" Silver asked. He knew aswell what this meant, but didn't think beyond the possibility of more food to eat.

He was excited already, especially when Locke reluctantly nodded, but his father didn't even smile.

They had made new friends, joined a group for the first time since their home fell apart.

How long will it take before they're alone again?

* * *

 _The decision has been made and a new life was brought into a world torn apart by the apocalypse and her family couldn't be prouder of their little girl. Meanwhile Shadow isn't so excited about teaming up with the recently expanded family, though he likes the thought of extra protection._

 _Also I would really appreciate it if you guys made me aware of any mistakes I might've made both grammar wise and story wise._

 _So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please do leave a review and tell me what you think! :3_


	12. A Walk In The Park

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!_

 _So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one._

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. Being made aware of grammatical errors is always appreciated. :)_

 _Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Chapter 11 - A Walk In The Park**

 _-Year 2038, Summer-_

The newborn girl, once clean, possessed an orange shade of fur, a colour that wasn't all that unheard off in Lara-Le's family, and a beautiful blue for her pair of irises.

Tikal was what the parents had decided to call her.

A beautiful name for a beautiful little girl.

At least that was what Shadow thought.

"We're done packing, how are things on your end?" Locke asked as he came to lean on the frame of the door leading to the guest bedroom, arms crossing in front of his torso, eyes glued to the ebony form on the bed as he checked the contents of his backpack for a third time that morning.

It had been little over a week since the birth of the echidnas' second child and the mother of the household had decided they had waited long enough and promptly chose to leave the very next morning, which was today.

Shadow had no objections as there was no food around, but Locke had shown his concerns. He doubted if Lara-Le was up to the long journey ahead of them, but didn't argue about it with her. If she needed to, they could always rest along the way.

"Yes, I'm done and so is Silver." The hedgehog replied as he pushed himself up from his seat on the edge of the bed, swinging the backpack over his shoulder before pulling it on.

A week spend with the family and he still didn't speak all that much.

Not a fiber in Locke's being trusted him, but he did trust his wife. So in the meantime he supposed he could keep an eye on the hedgehog and make sure he didn't do anything that could give him an excuse to kick him out of the group.

Or shoot him between the eyes.

Either way, Locke would be on the lookout for a single mistake.

Once everything was said and done, the group of six left the isolated cabin and began their trek through the forest on their journey to the nearest city, where they may find a reliable source for food.

The three echidnas with the week old Tikal in tow walked up front while the two hedgehogs stayed more in the back. Not only was this because of the ebony's distrust towards Locke, but staying in the back meant they didn't have to worry as much for a surprise attack from behind. One other advantage to traveling in groups.

Shadow came to realise that traveling in groups must be a pretty new concept to his son, who had only ever traveled with his father. Though he was a bit wary, Shadow did see an opportunity to teach him all kinds of new stuff.

Fortunatly, the young hedgehog was full of questions himself.

"Why are we so far behind? You always said it was safer to stay close." Silver was quite observant for his age and the fact that there was a bit of distance between them and the echidnas had not escaped him.

"Yes, when it's just the two of us. But once you're in a group, it's always useful for someone to stay behind and watch for attacks coming from the back or the sides. It's quite a handy method." Shadow was more than okay with explaining this. The more questions he got and answers he could give, the more prepared he knew Silver to be.

The day that he would have to travel on his own would inevitably come, after all.

Silver released a long 'oooh' as he understood and looked in front of him again, at Knuckles happily chatting away with his mother.

Was that what a real family looked like? Were he and dad doing it wrong? Locke seemed to smile whenever Lara-Le was around. While Shadow's lips weren't curved down in a frown, they weren't curved up in a smile either.

Suddenly Silver started noticing things he hadn't noticed before back in the Quarantine Zone he came from.

It made him curious to know where his dad's 'Lara-Le' was.

"Dad, can I ask a question?" The usually timid boy asked as he looked up to the older hedgehog.

"Of course." Was the immediate response, and his glance was answered to aswell as Shadow looked down on him.

"Knuckles has a mom. So where's my mom?" That was all the silvery hedgehog wanted to know, but his father came to a sudden halt as his eyes widened slightly.

Silver had asked him this question a week before shortly after Tikal's birth, so naturally he should've expected this question to be asked again soon. Witnessing that biological miracle had opened the doors to a lot of questions for him.

Shadow was once again caught off guard by the question he had expected Silver to ask.

The way the small hedgehog looked up to him, anticipating an answer, made it almost painful to watch as merely thinking about her made his chest constrict agonizingly tight, like he was being strangled from the inside out.

"Why don't you go to Knuckles and see if he wants to play, Silver. We're soon going to stop for a break anyway." That was the answer Shadow had chosen as he started walking again, jogging to catch up with the family of echidnas.

Silver was once again left dissapointed by the answer and couldn't keep the frown from appearing on his muzzle, but quickly caught up aswell.

* * *

The break arrived sooner then the ebony hedgehog had previously thought as they came across two benches and a table, where also a rusty, old bike leant against the trunk of a tree.

Breaks were a frequent must for now as Lara-Le had only given birth a mere week ago. She still had recovering to do and that could only be done like this. It could also serve to give the kids a little break, though they were already used to more and so were running around as they ignored their parents' orders of staying close.

Not that the parents minded. Kids being kids despites the current state of their world was always a nice sight and it was a view that Lara-Le and Shadow enjoyed as both Knuckles and Silver were huddled around a tree, poking some poor beetle with a twig.

Locke, on the other hand, was studying the map he always carried with him. He tried to determine the fastest route to the next town.

"It's always so nice to watch the kids play." Lara-Le couldn't help but sigh as a feeling of nostalgia broke through. Shadow only hummed in agreement, his gaze concentrated on his son as he watched with one cheek resting in hand, leaning with his elbow on the wooden surface of the table.

"I remember back when I was a little girl all I could think of was playing on the playground near my school. And then video games came along." She giggled as she said that and Shadow couldn't help but look at her. Locke seemed to release a huff out of both amusement and annoyence when she mentioned these 'video games'.

Shadow could only raise an eyebrow in question. He supposed he had heard someone mention it once or twice.

"Oh, was that before your time?" Lara-Le asked as she turned to look at the hedgehog.

"Yes, it was." Was Shadow's simple answer. He supposed he never would find out just what these supposed infamous games were.

He knew boardgames, of course. He and Rouge played tons of those while she was bedridden this one time.

His eyes couldn't help but fall on the little girl sleeping on her mother's chest like any newborn of only a week could do. Sleep and cry.

Lara-Le wore a special blouse designed to double as a baby sling. It looked like a snug place for the newborn echidna to sleep in. Not only that, but it seemed to make her mother's life easier aswell.

The ebony hedgehog wondered just how much easier his own life would've been if he could've had two free arms in the first few months of Silver's life. He was certain men could wear it too.

Or he could've let the boy sleep in his crib like any normal parent would do.

But he couldn't... Because the moment he turned his back exactly one month after his son's birth...

"Ah!" A startled boyish scream pulled Shadow out of his thoughts.

All three adults jumped up from their seat, the two males both grabbing for their guns in alarm while Lara-Le reached for the machete strapped to her back.

"Stupid bug, leave me alone!" Silver's young voice bellowed surprisingly loud in anger and fright, one arm flailing as if trying to swat at something. Knuckles took a good few big steps away from him.

The adults released a sigh in unison and sat down as they realised there was no danger, the woman shook lightly from the sudden boost of adrenaline. It had been a while since she last felt such a sense of danger.

"Daaaad!" Silver yelled again and Shadow pushed himself up from the bench and quickly approached, map in hand.

The older hedgehog soon noticed just what was plaguing his son and with a rolled up map from his backpack swiftly made an end to it, smacking it against the nearest tree. It was an ordinairy wasp.

"That stupid bug bit me." The silvery hedgehog was clearly upset as he pouted, lower lip trembling while tears grew in his eyes as he rubbed the back of his hand.

Shadow couldn't blame him for crying as wasp stings were painful, but he also couldn't help but be bemused as he knelt down to his level and took his hand to look at the sting.

"That was a wasp, Silver. They are already naturally more aggressive than bees and they are bound to retaliate. Especially when you're teasing them. Did you and Knuckles tease the wasp?" The boy's father asked with one eyebrow raised, clearly not in the mood for anything but the truth.

Silver looked down.

"Yes." Came the shy and nearly inaudible response.

Shadow huffed.

"Well, let that be your lesson for next time. And wasps don't bite, they sting." He informed the boy and took him back to the two other adults, Knuckles followed curiously, where he sat him down on the bench and searched his backpack.

Not long after he found a tube with ointment specifically for insect bites. Silver's curiosity for the world outside of the Q-Zone had made his father search for one such tube like mad. Like most medicine this was over date aswell, but they had yet to experience any problems with it and so continued to use it.

"Show me your hand, Silver." Shadow ordered the boy softly and he was listened to as Silver did exactly that.

As Shadow looked at the affected area he noticed the sting mark and a light swelling appearing like with any other insect bite, but so far nothing that could show indicate an allergic reaction or the stinger. That made his heart feel a little lighter with relief.

"Does it hurt a lot?" He asked as he rubbed the ointment on the back of his small, furred hand and looked at him.

Silver, who had been trying to containing himself, let his tears run freely upon admitting to the terrible stinging and couldn't help but start sniffing.

Shadow hated lacking in the comforting department.

"Don't worry, the pain will dissapear in a minute or two. So you need to put on a brave face and go through it, alright? Like a big, tough man!" He tried to encourage the youngster, but it didn't seem to work as well as he'd hoped.

"I'm not a man, I'm a boy." The silvery child replied, causing his father's ears to bend back a little in failure.

"Silver-"

"But I can be brave. Does that mean I have to stop crying?" Silver sniffed, his shoulders shaking with each one.

"Not in front of me." Shadow gave him a light smile, one he didn't have to awkwardly force this time. He went on to continue to cover the wasp sting with a broad band-aid to make sure the ointment would stay in place and do its job.

Locke watched the two from over the rim of his map inconspicuously and tried to let his sigh not be too audible as he moved his attention back to the task at hand.

He didn't seem to be able to make up his mind about that young black hedgehog. He was unwilling to talk about Silver's mother, but then helped his wife give birth. He was refusing to really form a connection with either of the two echidnas and didn't speak of his intentions or destination, but then he comforted his son like any reliable parent would do.

Shadow struck him as both untrustworthy and trustworthy at the same time. And frankly, it unnerved him greatly.

"I figured out where to go." Locke suddenly spoke up, earning himself the attention from everyone in the group.

"There's a fork in the road up ahead. If we take a right and keep on walking, we'll be able to reach a new city by morning. We can camp out off the road at nightfall." The echidna finished and Lara-Le couldn't help but sigh lightly in agitation.

"And here I thought staying 24/7 in the cabin was a nightmare." She mentioned sheepishly, absentmindedly rubbing Tikal's back.

"We could always return to the cabin and wait a bit longer before we leave the area completely." Her husband suggested, but she simply shook her head. She didn't want to stay any longer in there than was necessary. A lack of food in surrounding areas didn't allow them to stay for much longer anyway.

Locke packed up his things and pulled his backpack on before he looked towards the road ahead of them.

"Lara-Le, Knuckles, Silver... Shadow... If there are no objections, we should move now." In his usual gruff voice, Locke got the party of six moving again.

* * *

 _And there we go! A chapter that is slightly filler-y as I honestly didn't know what to put in this particular chapter. But that's okay. Because this filler chapter, much like the other somewhat filler-y chapter in 'Spring', helped me think of what the rest of 'Summer' is going to be like! ^^_

 _Also I would really appreciate it if you guys made me aware of any mistakes I might've made both grammar wise and story wise._

 _So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please do leave a review and tell me what you think! :3_


	13. One Night of Terror

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!_

 _So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one._

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. Being made aware of grammatical errors is always appreciated. :)_

 _Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Chapter 12 - One Night of Terror**

 _-Year 2038, Summer-_

The fork in the road was quickly reached in a short hour or so and the right path was taken. The party of six kept on walking and when the first signs of a city appeared far up ahead and the sun sank lower in the sky to create a beautiful sunset was when they decided to call it a day.

Locke decided to set up camp off road, though the field was one open area except for that wide patch of long grass. They were in sight for all to see, but that did mean danger wasn't invisible to them either. Locke strongly believed that a group wasn't as vulnerable, though Shadow would disagree just as strongly.

"I don't know, Locke. Maybe it's better if we keep moving." Lara-Le shared his doubts with this spot aswell.

Locke had already gone ahead and unrolled the sleeping bag for his wife, which she would be sharing with their daughter.

"We don't have any other choice, do we? The city is too far away, we won't reach it before nightfall. So it's best to set up camp here and stand guard." He replied and stood back up.

"We probably won't, but I don't think it's a good idea to stay here either. I think it's a better idea to keep moving until we reach the city and four walls and a roof to keep us safe as we sleep." Shadow, though quiet for most of the day while they walked, spoke up to disagree.

He's had to sleep in the open before and it never stopped to make him feel like a sitting duck. And as a father that feeling was absolutely terrible. He'd rather walk a bit longer and have some place for them to sleep where they could also hide then stay here in the open. It was why he usually always made a beeline straight for the next settlement.

In an instant Locke's patience was wearing thin.

"If you want to endanger your son's life by heading into a city in the dark, I don't care. But I'm not going to needlessly put my wife and children in danger. We're staying here." The older man decided, pretty much nose to nose with the shorter hedgehog as if trying to intimidate him.

Shadow's eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed, but he didn't say anything back. Why Locke had the constant need to intimidate the hedgehog because he didn't trust him is not something he'd ever understand.

But Shadow supposed that neither options were really all that smart. Here so out in the open they were easy prey to what may lurk in the tall grass not far away from them and in the city they might be attacked by what they couldn't see in the dark.

Locke, knowing that he had proven his point, though Shadow hadn't acknowledge that out loud, resumed setting up camp for tonight and with their sleeping bags already on the ground only wood remained.

"And Shadow." He called for the darker hedgehog, who was now rolling his shoulders in an attempt to ease the strain now that he could let his backpack drop down on the grassy ground.

"You and I will stand guard tonight. I will take the first shift." He decided and Shadow could only nod in agreement. The dark hedgehog doubted he'd be getting any sleep at all tonight anyway.

* * *

The sun set, evening arrived, and the group settled. Their night in a deceptively precarious location could begin.

"Let there be light." Shadow muttered to himself as he managed to light up a small stack of twigs and dried grass, placed within a circle of stones in order to keep the surrounding grass from catching fire.

"You're going to teach me that too, right?" Silver asked, not knowing just yet how his dad managed to create fire in all these different ways. Wood on wood, stones, lighter, etc.

"Of course, I will. Someday I will even trust you to make the fire while I, for example, scout the area." Shadow responded and Silver couldn't help but grin in excitement. That would make him seem all grown up for sure!

"When?" He asked and Shadow sighed mentally, smiling slightly. The typical question was asked and only one answer would do, the answer every child dreaded to hear.

"When you're older."

"Daaad!" In an instance a very prominent pout became apparent on his muzzle. Of course, he didn't see that 4 year olds shouldn't be handling fire.

"My, it's getting lively in here." Lara-Le remarked as she came to take a seat next to the two, Tikal now covered with a blanket as she was busy satiating her hunger and slightly discomforted her mother.

"Mom, Silver's dad said he was gonna teach Silver how to make fire, will my dad teach me that?" Knuckles asked as he came to plop down next to his mother, leaning on her right knee.

"Hmmm." The female echidna hummed in thought, not quite sure how to put it nicely.

"Just say it. There's a reason why parents have been saying it for centuries." Shadow remarked, pulling his backpack closer to rummage inside.

Lara-Le couldn't help but give in.

"When you're older, Knuckles." She said, causing a look of horror to appear on his features.

"Mooom!" The youth called out and Shadow could hardly bite back a chuckle. It was strange how he could interract with both mother and son just fine, but not with the father of the family, though they've been together for at least a week now.

Meanwhile Locke was off to the side, scanning the surrounding area now that they had settled for the night. He was quietly listening in to the conversation.

"So where are you and Silver headed?" Lara-Le asked as she moved Tikal to sit straight to help her give a belch, though all the little girl wanted to do was sleep.

Shadow didn't really know if he should respond at first, but he didn't really see any harm in doing so.

So he pulled out the map he sacrificed partial function and strength in his right arm for and folded it open to show the black circle around a place called 'Knothole'.

"It's a Quarantine Zone. I'm not comfortable with Silver spending his childhood this way, so we're pretty much making a beeline straight for it." Shadow decided to come clean.

Since leaving that human settlement a pencil line had joined the black marker, showing the exact route Shadow and Silver had taken. With every stop had the hedgehog updated on the map, making sure that they never strayed too far from the path he had mentally sketched out weeks ago.

"The two of you have been walking for a long time, haven't you?" Lara-Le asked in surprise. She hadn't had to walk that far in a couple of months already.

"That one week of rest made up for it." He responded, putting the map away.

Or that's what he wanted to do until Locke suddenly took it away to look at the route himself.

Shadow's fists clenched at having something as precious as a map taken from his hands, but he decided it was better to glare than to snap and cause trouble in their little group, young as their companionship was. He had learned to control his temper a long time ago.

It took a little while, but finally Locke huffed before dropping the map back on Shadow's lap, leaving him to fold it, and walked away to tend to their dinner. His wife looked on, not too surprised at his behaviour.

Shadow simply huffed in return, folding up the map and putting it away, a bit peeved now.

"So if you're headed there than you must believe that you'll be welcome there." Lara-Le simply continued their conversation, shrugging off the awkward actions that had just taken place between the two men.

"I got in last time because of Silver and my military training. I hope it won't be any different this time." The ebony hedgehog responded, causing the female echidna to look down at Tikal thoughtfully.

"Last time?" Silver asked and looked up to his old man.

"You can't remember because you weren't even an hour old yet." Shadow responded, briefly ruffling his five front quills.

"Dad, stop!" The young boy laughed and pushed his father's hand away.

The oldest echidna of the group joined them again and his face was still all sunshine and rainbows as he sat down and held a pan with dinner above the burning stack of twigs.

"We seem to be in the clear for now." He briefly stated and turned his attention to their meal.

Shadow couldn't help but turn and move his gaze to settle on the dark tall grass casting an ominous sight on his retinas.

They worried him, but he supposed he had no other choice but to stay. He'd rather stay here in the open where he and Silver would have the security of a group rather than continue all alone. Shadow could only hope they'd be left alone.

* * *

After the comfort of a warm meal the group decided to call it a night and go to sleep.

Mother, daughter, and son slept on two sleeping bags next to eachother, making use of the warm season instead of snuggling in the bag itself. Meanwhile Shadow opted not to roll out their bags and simply used it as a pillow. He'd have a much easier time packing up if they needed to leave in a hurry.

Silver lied within arm's reach from him and if his light snoring was any indication, he was already vast asleep.

Shadow counted himself lucky. At least one of them was getting some sleep. He, himself, wasn't so fortunate as his worries kept him awake, but a well-rested Silver meant an energetic Silver to keep him on edge and alert the next day.

He laid faced away from the tall grass behind him with one arm outstretched as his son couldn't use a rolled up sleeping bag as a makeshift pillow. He was left to occasionally stare at Locke, who sat near the still burning fire as it would keep away small animals and give him the ability to see around their little campsite.

Shadow closed his eyes, knowing that he needed to take over in a matter of hours. He needed his sleep, but so far failed in dozing off.

And then his eyes snapped open in alarm when he heard a rustling noise coming from behind him.

It wasn't a nightly Summer breeze swaying the grass back and forth. Was it an animal? The rustling was a bit on the loud side, so it must be a big one.

Feeling his heart beat faster like with most sounds coming from the dark, Shadow pulled Silver closer to him and held his boy firmly against his chest. The boy even whined in panic when a sudden tight grip settled around him, but quickly found a comfortable sleeping position and simply dozed back off again.

Shadow could only wish he was that relaxed as he continued to hear the sounds. The fur on the back of his neck stood on end and his quills bristled. He couldn't help but feel like something was preying on him, eyeing him up because he looked so defenseless as he pretended to sleep.

His widened ruby eyes moved to settle on Locke, but the echidna had already noticed the unwelcome guest. Shadow was at least somewhat comforted by the fact that he wasn't the only one who felt the sense of danger.

The rustling in the grass multiplied. Whatever lurked in the long grass was not alone.

Ocean eyes met blood red and Shadow knew it was time to go.

"Huh, wha?" A very drowsy Silver moaned when his father suddenly jumped up to his knees, rudely awakening him in his hurry to attach the rolled up bag to his backpack.

"Lara-Le, Knuckles, pack up." Locke shook his wife to wake her up and she quickly responded, sitting up in alarm.

"Locke?" She called her husband's name until she noticed him gathering their stuff and quickly figured out what was going on and joined in.

But with neither of the three adults taking the time to explain anything, the two young boys could only guess just what was going on.

The rustling grew louder and closer rapidly, but upon knowing that their cover was blown, the source suddenly burst out of the long grass, sprinting forward.

In the pale moonlight they identified the predators as a species of the Dead. These looked like Runners and Wanderers, but they were of the mutated kind as they were rotten mobians who evolved to run on all fours. They were a smaller, but still deadly, version of the Lurkers. Just like them they were fast.

"Crawlers!" Locke shouted as he threw his backpack over his shoulder after grabbing only the bare essentials. Sleeping bags would have to be left behind.

One Crawler sprinted forward, heading for the dark hedgehog as he tried to help Lara-Le.

"Dad!" Silver cried out as loud as he could and Shadow could only turn just in time to watch the mobian zombie lunge for him, claws outstretched and jaws agape to sink its teeth into his flesh.

Shadow reacted on instinct and pulled his gun from his holster to shoot it dead between the eyes on pure luck as he hadn't had the time to even aim. The now truly dead body was still flung onto him and the force send Shadow to fall back into the still burning embers of the fire.

It was only because the fire had already been dying that his precious black jacket didn't start to burn and the hedgehog wearing it along with it.

"Dad!" Silver yelled in utter horror, but his heart didn't have the time to break when Lara-Le pulled the corpse away, allowing the now blood splattered Shadow to back away before climbing to his feet.

There was no time to contemplate just how close he had come to death as the group of six had to move and fast.

"Run! I'll watch your backs!" Locke shouted and Lara-Le listened in an instance. With the week old Tikal securely in her blouse and Knuckles by her hand the mother ran and Shadow quickly followed, holding Silver by the hand aswell as he prefered to have his dominant hand free to hold a gun. The young hedgehog would have to keep up.

Gunshots rung out from behind them, but no one except for the children dared to look back.

They could barely comprehend what was happening. They were having a cozy dinner and settled in for the night. How could the situation turn on them so quickly?

"Don't stop at the first house! They might break in! Find an apartment or anything that looks in the slightest bit fortified!" Shadow called out to Lara-Le as they hurried for the city, where they knew they would be safe.

The gunshots and loud gurgling from behind kept their tired legs going. Those that hadn't managed to get any sleep at all after a whole day of walking ran purely on adrenaline alone.

But finally, they reached first of the buildings that made up this city and then another problem rose up to bite them in the arse.

"The city's infested!" Lara-Le screamed in shock when a Runner came from around the corner when it caught the vulnerable mother in its sight.

With her hands full protecting her children, it was up to Shadow to protect all four of them while Locke struggled to catch up. As the Runner grabbed the woman by her shoulders, filthy nails digging in her skin, Shadow aimed his gun and blew its brains out.

Lara-Le wasn't kidding. As if the Crawlers chasing them weren't already a problem, mindless as they were, this particular advanced human settlement had to be filled with the Dead and both Runners and Wanderers appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, the darkness of the night doing a terrific job at keeping them hidden.

They reached an apartment complex, but as Shadow attempted to open the door, he couldn't help but notice more zombies sauntering to the glass door. Where could they hide and allow their burning lungs some rest if dead people were everywhere they looked?

"I can see a hospital, we can hide out there!" Locke stated now that he had finally been able to catch up and grabbed a Wanderer by the collar away from his wife before shooting it in the head.

"Than we need to hurry because I think I can see a wall up ahead. We need to get over it before we're swarmed." Shadow spotted a dark familiar silhouette up ahead.

It wasn't as high as the wall from Station Square, but at least that meant it was possible for them to get over it.

The dark hedgehog wanted to continue running, but suddenly he was halted by a cry from Silver and noticed a zombie of only eight about to take a bite out of his boy. A growl of anger left him as he ripped Silver away from it and kicked it in the chest before ending it with a single bullet.

There was no time to check for bites as they had to keep on going.

Finally the wall seemed to come closer and so did the hospital, of which they could see parts of the roof and the white building appearing between the rundown apartments.

Shadow felt like that could be a checkpoint. As if they could climb over and instantly be safe, though there was no activity on or beyond the wall to suggest that anyone was still living here.

Upon reaching their last obstacle between them and safety, one way to the other side came in the form of a slanted brick wall, fallen from a building to their left from pure neglect.

It seemed like such a blessing.

"Shadow, make yourself useful and get me up there so I can pull all of you up." Locke ordered and the hedgehog wasn't one to argue this time.

Shadow helped him reach the top of the slanted wall by pushing him up by his soles, his back searching support with the bricks. He could only just get Locke up when his right arm felt ablaze from the effort.

He tried to flex the limb, but the attempt to relief the pain was in vain and then Lara-Le was called forward.

"But Knuckles-" She tried to argue, but Locke wasn't listening.

"You're holding a baby, Lara-Le!" There was no time for a dispute with the mass of the undead about to close in and so the echidna mother took Shadow up on his offer to boost her up.

"Damn." He cursed through clenched teeth, feeling the full effect of having his right arm broken and not being able to get proper treatment for it. He hadn't even known what the break looked like. For all he knew his ulna hadn't just cracked, but fractured completely or maybe the bone had even moved!

He read medical books in Station Square, but he could hardly be called a doctor.

"Knuckles!" Finally the lightweight of a woman was pushed up, requiring all of the remaining strength of the young man's just recovered arm.

Shadow was relieved that it was the kids' turn now and got the two of them up with ease, though even they were weighing a bit now.

"Dad?" Silver had looked at him in concern as he was heaved up to be grabbed by Locke. In no definition was he a fool and had noticed his father's discomfort, though he was deceptively strong for his malnourished body.

He hadn't responded and simply ended another three zombies before pushing himself off of the slanted wall to get a bit of distance between them for a running start.

He ran and managed to get his feet to push him up against the bricks and actually reached the top, but his left hand didn't manage to get a grip on anything that wouldn't just crumble away at the very touch and so his right was left to take the abuse.

Naturally the limb failed in pulling him up and away from danger, Locke calling his name and extending a hand out for him to grab, but the reflex of the mobian body set in and his grip faltered when the pain became too much. Shadow could only slide and tumble down, his right arm useless.

"Fuck." The word had left him upon impact with the ground.

He'd try to get back up again and hope that his left would finally find something to grab onto, but they were already upon him.

His single way out was to run. He couldn't start shooting them all and hope there'd be an opening for him to try again.

"Silver, stay with Lara-Le! Don't stray from her side!" Shadow could only tell his son and felt an overwhelmingly bad feeling well up in his chest that he couldn't even begin to describe in words.

Yet, Shadow ran and didn't look back even when Silver called for him with such a heartbreaking voice, simply disappearing in an alleyway.

For this nearly two year journey, this would be the first time they'd be seperated for an undetermined amount of time. Shadow could only hope to reach the hospital and find the echidna family there waiting for him with Silver.

He ran for as fast and as long as his legs could carry him and found the hospital coming closer and closer. The building was so very close to the wall. All he had to do was find someway to climb over and then all that awaited him was one long, last sprint.

He just had to find someway to get over. Maybe he and his son wouldn't need to be apart for as long as he feared.

But then he came upon a giant hole in the ground not far from the hospital and it took up pretty much the entire width of a street. He realised that this must be an underground parking lot judging by the white lines, two abandoned cars, and lack of sewerage. It had to be part of the hospital.

If Shadow couldn't get over the wall, maybe he could get under it.

Noticing a way for him to climb down through a metal beam and other debris, Shadow held on as he sauntered along the edge. If the hedgehog could just get to the other side of the hole, he could use the fallen debris to get down and then all he needed to do was find a set of stairs.

But there was still a mass of the undead infesting the streets and one of them grabbed hold of his sleeve. With his right arm temporarily useless, Shadow could only rip himself free from the zombie.

It was then that his grip slipped and the hedgehog was left to fall to the ground two stories down.

Shadow felt the impact and then nothing.

* * *

 _Oh, look! A chapter with actual action in it! :D Oh, look! I'm not actually dead! :D Oh, look! I do update 'Still Fighting'! :D_

 _Also I would really appreciate it if you guys made me aware of any mistakes I might've made both grammar wise and story wise._

 _So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please do leave a review and tell me what you think! :3_


	14. Separation

_Hi! Everyone! AHeartForStories here! I just love zombie apocalypse stories, games movies. I just had to write something of my own! I just had to! The idea was irresistable!_

 _So here you have it! Knowing my love for Zombie apocalypses, writer blocks should be very minimal with this one._

 _Hope you enjoy and please do leave a review or two behind to tell me if you liked it or if you have constructive criticism. Being made aware of grammatical errors is always appreciated. :)_

 _Once again, I'd like to point out that none of the characters have their powers. So no super speed or anything for Shadow or anyone. Let's be honest, their powers would've made this story alot less suspenseful._

* * *

 **Still Fighting: Chapter 13 - Separation**

 _-Year 2038, Summer-_

"Silver, stay with Lara-Le! Don't stray from her side!" His father had shouted before running off and just narrowingly escaping from two pairs of grasping hands, leaving Silver behind with the family of echidnas.

"Dad, where are you going?! Wait up!" The young boy shouted and tried to follow, but then Lara-Le grabbed his wrist and prevented him from taking another step.

"Let me go!" He shouted. He wanted to catch up before his dad disappeared from sight completely, but the echidna mother easily kept him in place.

"You heard your father, Silver. You're staying with me." She told him strictly and her grip only tightened.

Lara-Le was a kind woman, but when push comes to shove, she knew how to be forceful and this boy was not going to run straight into a swarm of the dead to blindly chase after his dad.

"But-"

"No, Silver! Your father knows we're going to the hospital, he'll meet us here." She cut the boy off and kept him from talking back at her. Silver was left to stare at her in shock, attempts to pull himself free in vain. He had no other choice but to follow them.

"Lara-Le, lets go." Locke told her, not wanting to spend anymore time here than necessary with the mass of the dead pushing and pulling to get to the small group of people standing atop the wall. They still weren't all too far from their reach.

They found a way to climb down from the four meter high contraption, Silver now obediently followed. They could still hear their moaning and groaning, the gurgling from deep within their throats, but not seeing their broken fingers grasping from them or their empty eyes focus on them helped to make them feel safer.

"Can't we go find dad now? He went that way!" Silver didn't try to pull himself free, but he did plead as he looked up to the echidna mother, pointing in the general direction he had seen Shadow run off to.

To be separated from him made the young boy feel frightened and unprotected.

"Silver, we're going to the hospital. If your father survives, he'll meet us there." Locke harshly told the boy, his glare showing him that he expected not a single other word uttered about the black hedgehog.

They had wasted enough time already and if this abandoned quarantine zone proved to be inhabited by the Wanderers and Runners too, than he did not want to stand around and get overrun again.

The silvery hedgehog could only release a soft whine and tighten his hold on Lara-Le's hand.

Receiving no protests, Locke lead his group onward, heading for the white walls and flat roof of the hospital towering above the small buildings surrounding it.

* * *

It had been quiet as they walked, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, the peace now provided was a relief after the chase that cruelly stole their precious sleep away.

It had taken a small half an hour, but they weren't far from the hospital now.

Inside they might find a safe place to sleep and maybe even medicine to add to their ever so small collection.

As Locke jogged up the stairs to reach the front entrance, he noticed quite a big problem.

"Rotating doors. We'll have to find a different way in." He stated as he stepped back. Lara-Le and the two children had joined him and the couple tried to look for a new way in.

"There's a sign pointing towards the E.R, there should be an entrance there." The mother spoke, pointing towards a pole with numerous signs telling the direction to several different sections of the hospital, including the parking lot and the underground parking lot. On one sign was printed an arrow to the left with the words 'Emergency Room' next to it.

That could provide them with the way in they needed.

The four of them walked around the building with sleeping baby Tikal, who proved to be an absolute deep sleeper, still safely with her mother. She hadn't made a single sound even as they ran. That was something her parents could only be grateful for as it wasn't easy to raise children in the apocalypse, let alone a newborn who cried for milk or a change every two hours.

Silver hadn't tried again to get away in order to search for his dad, but the young hoglet's gaze did actively scan all of his surroundings, hoping to get a glimpse of mixed black and red fur, or maybe to see Shadow's darkly coloured backpack lying around to tell him that he was somewhere nearby.

So far there was still nothing.

What did manage to catch his eye, were the countless of black bodybags littering the streets. And sometimes they weren't even in a bag, but had a simple white sheet to cover them up.

"What happened?" Knuckles asked as he noticed them too. Walking alongsides his old man, he looked to him for answers.

"This, Knuckles, is a clear sign that this was a Quarantine Zone that didn't last very long. Which would explain why their wall was so low." The older echidna replied, giving the corpses a weary glance.

"There were other Quarantines on Shadow's map, many of which were crossed out, but this one wasn't even on it." Lara-Le added, distinctly remembering not seeing a Q-Zone anywhere in the area when the ebony hedgehog showed her the map with the route the father and son were following.

She had forgotten all about it because of the terrors they had just witnessed tonight only half an hour ago and had only just remembered it.

As they looked at the corpses they walked past, they couldn't help but admit that the light of the moon gave them an erie glow, particularly the rare uncovered body.

Silver stayed close to the female echidna as they approached the double doors leading to the E.R, keeping a wide, uncomfortable look on the unmoving figures.

As they approached the doors, Locke grabbed the handle and pulled, opening one side to let his group in.

"Dad?!" Silver made the mistake of calling out, for which his mouth quickly got covered up.

"Not here, Silver. Remember what your father taught you." Lara-Le could only presume Shadow was teaching him all that he needed to know.

The young boy frowned deeply in concern, gaze moving all around the abandoned emergency room. Surely his dad would be here too if he had come?

Instead they found an abandoned waiting room and a messy counter where the receptionists most likely once worked. Documents littered the surface and needles, IVs, and other equipment lied on the floor. It was obvious how long this place had been empty, neglected, and in how much of a hurry the staff had been to get up and leave.

The Emergency room split up into two hallways, each with several doors that Silver couldn't even guess they could all lead to, and they were both so very dark.

Both parties of the echidna couple shined a flashlight down one hallway, not comfortable with the almost unnatural darkness that hung around. Not much light of the moon, or even the sun during the day, penetrated the dark.

Someone had done their best to barricade themselves inside, to do everything and use everything to keep the Dead out.

"Locke, maybe we should leave." His wife spoke to him, her fear showing through. She found this place more than a little suspicious.

Locke didn't feel so comfortable in there either, but as he turned to look outside, he noticed that it was once again getting a bit more lively outside despites the fact that it was still night. He spotted a small pack of Wanderers doing what they do best; wandering. He also saw a couple of Crawlers.

Not wanting a repeat from earlier and risk the group growing even smaller, Locke chose to stay inside the ominous darkness. It wasn't something Lara-Le was entirely comfortable with, but she decided not to argue about it, though she did feel a certain nagging in the pit of stomach telling her this was a terrible idea.

Still they had to wait. Wait for their missing team member and give him the chance to rejoin them. It was after all through him that they even managed to escape. Had it been the other way around, they would've also done the same for Locke.

"We should wait for Shadow, I don't think he'll be much longer anymore." So she instead stated that, looking down on the forlorn boy who looked up to her and nodded quickly.

It wasn't the first time father and son have been separated as Shadow often checked things out on his own once he had hidden Silver somewhere relatively safe. It happened whenever he deemed something too dangerous, but the elder hedgehog's absence was really dragging on now and, though the worst case scenario crossing his mind wasn't death, the boy was beginning to wonder just what took his dad so long.

It would've made him feel better here in the thick blackness, hanging ominously all around them, two yellowish glinting eyes peering at him from the darkness.

Eyes?

"Lara-Le?" Silver called the woman's name, tugging on her arm to draw her attention, but as he looked up to her, he remarked that she was already looking in that direction.

She didn't dare shine her flashlight down the hallway anymore, instead turning it off and bathing the three of them in darkness. That in turn drew Locke's attention and like her he froze up.

They knew what it was.

A Lurker.

* * *

 _Okay, so this chapter took quite a while too, though it wasn't too long. I was actually busy with school and some other stuff, but I'll try to update faster from now on._

 _Also I would really appreciate it if you guys made me aware of any mistakes I might've made both grammar wise and story wise._

 _So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And please do leave a review and tell me what you think! :3_


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